


Point me t'ward Tomorrow

by FujiDawn



Series: And we, too, could be glorious [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies), Thor: The Dark World - Fandom
Genre: Domestic, Fluff, FrostIron - Freeform, Infinity Gems, Loki!Preg, Mpreg, Multi, Not Thor: The Dark World Compliant, Odin has a heart, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Thor The Dark World AU - Canon Divergence, Uncle Thor, sort of mpreg, that are calles Stones in the MCU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-14
Updated: 2014-01-12
Packaged: 2018-01-01 11:42:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 64,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1044416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FujiDawn/pseuds/FujiDawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to "Nothing will cage me any more".</p>
<p>The threat of the Mad Titan has been averted. There's still a pregnant Loki in New York, so we'll try to tie any loose knots and see what will happen. There's a Bean to meet, secrets to share, and fluff aplenty ahead.<br/>But life would be boring without meeting danger, wouldn't it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Secrets unveiled

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Italiano available: [Puntami verso il domani](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6861250) by [EthicsGradient](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EthicsGradient/pseuds/EthicsGradient)



Loki remembers his time in Asgard.

He remembers Thor, bright, friendly, loud, brave Thor, laughing and feasting with his friends, telling tale after tale of his adventures and his courageous deeds while the people swoon over him and call him a true warrior, a hero.

The sorcerer knows which feelings swirled through him every time that happened, whenever Thor had no words for him, not even a single glance to see if his little brother was enjoying the feast as he himself was. There were disappointment, anger, jealousy, envy. Hidden pride for all the greatness his big brother showed, and so much love, because who in their right mind could not love that man?

Then, he remembers that it was him, Loki, whom Thor came to when in need. If he had encountered a problem, when he was hurt, he would search for the younger one and rant and complain whatever it was that would enrage him, and Loki would listen, heal his wounds, and call him fool with that light smirk he displayed just for the blond god.

Thor trusted him with his weaknesses, loved him enough to see him first, even before their parents, believed in his soothing company.

He remembers being belittled, being called without honour, a coward. He recalled being mocked for being adept with seiðr, and he remembered clearly how embarrassed he was when the words ergi and argr first were said regarding him. Nobody called for hólmganga, seeing as he was their prince, but the bitter taste it left never vanished again.

Loki remembers the one time the warriors did so in front of Thor, and how his brother had defended him – or tried to, as his words surely cut deeper than any remark of the other man had.

“He is young, and will outgrow this in time. This little magic he can do will not last long, and then he will be stronger than even you. My brother is no ergi, and if I hear you utter such things ever again, it will be me calling you the like with full intention of the following hólmganga.”

It had warmed Loki's heart that Thor came to his aid, and in the same instance it had burned like wildfire. He knew that his seiðr would only grew stronger with time. Thor's obvious disacceptance hurt more than the sorcerer would ever admit.

 

He remembers the times he and his brother would sneak into the kitchen and steal sweets.

He remembers how they would eat whatever they had obtained in Thor's chambers, grinning and feeling that nothing could stop them when they worked together.

 

Loki relished in the memories he had with his mother. She always had been kind, if stern, loving, understanding and everything a boy needed from the first woman in his life.

“You are gifted, my Loki. Let them be jealous, let them laugh, and be a better man in your actions. I know it will be hard, but I believe in you.”

Frigga had shown him how to use his skills, his power. She taught him how to merge weapons and magic, and when he grew to be lean and wiry, revealed the tricks which she knew to him.

His mother truly was an extraordinary woman, not unlike Sif. She schooled him in battle, gave him an opportunity to defend his honour in front of the warriors by besting them.

And if they called him ergi again and again, Loki was proud of the traits he and his mother shared. This feeling never wavered, even as Thor began to taunt him like the others did.

 

He thinks of all the times Thor invited him on his journeys and quests, sure that Loki would have his back, trusting him to keep his secrets.

 

Loki remembers the day Thor was given Mjölnir without a single second amiss. He was so proud of his older brother, old enough to be declared a man, brave enough to be bestowed with a weapon so marvellous and strong.

The realm celebrated it's Prince in all his glory, and Loki did, too, pride welling up at the thought that this one, this golden child, now man, was indeed his brother, his family.

He was happy.

 

The sorcerer did not bother to win himself a weapon as incredible as Mjölnir was. He swung spears, like his Father, and had already obtained various ones on his travels to other realms. He could enchant his weapons himself, even better, when there was no magic to interfere with. His own coming of age had been celebrated without a great feast, per his own wishes. He did not need the peoples approval. For him, the considerate nod the Allfather had given him, eye sparkling, had been more than enough.

 

Sometimes, when he is alone, like now, his heart aches for what he has lost, be it through his own faults and mistakes, or be it for the fact that there had never been a real place cut out for him.

Sometimes, the wish to get back the days he was but a child overwhelms him.

But most of the time, he cherished the new memories he had been gifted, and this new chapter in his life that was filled with love, praise, and so much more.

 

“You okay, sweet pea?”, a soft voice interrupted his memories of a thousand years.

Loki hummed a positive response while cracking open one eye.

“Just thinking.”

“Don't hurt yourself.”, his husband snickered and promptly was attacked with a thrown pillow, getting him to laugh. Loki himself grinned and fished for another pillow to stuff under his head.

“We have to think about a name.”

Tony sighed. They had discussed so many of them already. Besides the family name – Stark – there had been no progress.

The sorcerer was silent, playing absently with the hem of his shirt.

“I like Elsa.”

“Really nice. Clashes with her middle name, I'm afraid.”

“Well, we could adjust that one... instead of the '-a'-suffix, we could try the '-ie'.”

Tony stopped dead in his tracks (one arm stretched out to grab a fresh Shirt), slowly turning around and Loki almost laughed at the blatant disgust in his face.

“You're joking.”

“Why not? There are many young girls who bear that name.”

Dark eyebrows rose higher, and the engineer crossed his arms.

“You're making this up. There is no way in hell loving parents would call their daughters 'Friggie'. No way.”

Oh.

Ooh.

Loki's heart stuttered for a second, before getting the rhythm back. He loved this man. Really, really loved him. His lips curled into a bright smile without his help as the implication hit him.

“You'd name her after my mother? I thought we'd name her after yours.”

“She already gets my surname, and my mother never cared that much about me, really. Your mom deserves this more. Of course, I'm not against Lokadóttir, but you vetoed against it.”

“I always identified myself with my name, and I assure you, it is not easy to live with if that is taken from you. I am not okay donning just one parent on her. And even then it would be Anthonydóttir. Patriarchal system.”

Tony groaned.

“Worse than Friggie. Okay, Stark it is. So, Bean Frigga Stark is non-negotiable?”

“If you favour your tongue – no.”

The mattress besides Loki dipped as the genius sat down, stroking his side. Loki lay in bed, having been threatened with severe consequences if Jarvis saw him up and around after a terrifying case of premature labour earlier that week. Bruce would hulk out. The god had assured them that all was fine and that it just had been two cramps, painful, and sudden, yes, not threatening though – his magic had made sure that everything was as it should be – but no one had believed him. So he was on bed rest for the foreseeable future.

“Then I propose Eydís. Or Ásdís”

Loki swallowed, throat and lips suddenly dry.

“That's Old Norse.”

Tony nodded and smiled, kissing first his husband, then his belly and placed a hand on it as his daughter kicked.

“Jarvis helped me search for something more scandinavian.”

Loki laughed, cupping his hand around his lovers, feeling the little jolt of happiness his daughter emitted.

“She likes them both. Say them again. To her.”

Tony did, smiling as his hand was kicked again.

“Àsdís. Àsdís Frigga Stark.”

 

 

“A good name for a fine daughter, Man of Iron.”, Thor complimented their choice over dinner. Bruce had allowed the short walk over to the living room after Loki had nagged him repeatedly, stating his boredom and that the labour pains were courtesy of his male hips not really being the right asset for a pregnancy. He would stay male either way until shortly before the due date, just because it was sturdier, stronger, and not as prone to back pains as the female one (he had tested that).

“What does it mean?”, Clint wanted to know, zapping through the channels in search of some action movie that was advertised for the evening.

“Asgardian goddess. To demonstrate: Thor is an Às.”

Thor's face showed all of them that he did seriously not know why they chuckled and snorted at that. Loki grinned, leaning back.

“Dís is a suffix and stands for goddess. She is very pleased with this name, as she repeatedly kicked me when Tony uttered it.”

“High time you got a name for her, 'Bean' was really outdated after a while.”, Tasha said snickering. The elevator dinged, indicating Pepper's arrival. They greeted her, cheery, but her face was stony as she entered the living room.

“We have a serious problem.”

Clint cleared his throat.

“I think I know. Look.”

All eyes turned to the TV, followed by a blanching Loki when he saw his own face staring right back at him. It was a CCTV image, and it was from Stuttgart.

“Jarvis, volume up.”, he croaked, voice rough and husky.

“ _... was the cause for the alien attack on New York five years ago. This year he was seen with the super hero group called 'Avengers' at Central Park, seemingly fighting on the same side against the aliens that invaded the city under his own lead. There is no official statement at this time, but we will keep you up to date.”_

“This has been boiling for weeks now.”, Pepper said, snatching the StarkPad lying on the counter and searching for something.

“Weeks?! How could we have missed this?”

Loki sighed as his husband yelled, incredulous and shocked. By the Norns, this was a catastrophe. How had that happened?

“A german reporter has been blogging since February. He was at the Opera House when Loki appeared there, and coincidentally was here when you fought Thanos. He really did his homework, dug out photographs he had made in Germany and ones he did this year and had them compared.”, the red-head explained while the News channel still bubbled in the background, passing over the StarkPad with the blog and some youtube-videos.

“They do not know I am here. Solveig is my disguise.”

“ _...apparently housed in the Avengers Tower, according to a file we have been sent.”_

“How the hell do they get their fingers on a SHIELD-file?”, Bruce asked, eyes glued to the screen, and oh yes, there was said file, with a mugshot of Loki, full details of the invasion (as far as they knew), and familiar relationship. The Trickster was ever so glad Tony had kept out of it whatever would link him to Solveig. So, he would just shift to female and be done. The villain would be gone and all would be well.

“Phil is already combing through everything. He should have the idiot who leaked this in no time.”, Tasha confirmed after a quick message on her phone. Loki reclined on the backrest of the couch, adrenaline pumping through his veins, as Thor grumbled.

“Your people have no honour.”

“ _...Brother of Thor. Why has he kept this a secret? The people of the Unites States deserve to know who is responsible for the destruction that happened. How can we trust the Hero with such grave secrets?”_

“Oh great. Jane's in trouble, too. There are approximately twenty reporters trying to get her statement.”, Tony added to the growing pile of problems, checking his phone. “Can we sue them? For anything?”

Pepper frowned and pursed her lips.

“Jane is neither working for you nor is she family, I believe that one would just cement any conspiracy theories they sport.”

“Damn.”

“Guys, more pressing matter.”, Clint ordered their attention back to the screen and they all stared at it for a few seconds, not really believing what happened. When Pepper walked over to the window, the Pepper on the screen did, too. Loki had never been happier that Thor was so big, because his frame was the only thing that covered the baby bump he sported. Snapping his fingers, he cast a concealment charm to let his stomach appear flat for the time being. Straining, but worth it.

Well. That cancelled the whole vanishing plan. It would only deepen the mistrust. Curse the media.

“I'll kill them.”, Tony growled, jaw tight and brows drawn down angrily as he stood up, squeezed Loki's shoulder, and had Jarvis deploy the Mark IX.

“Don't do anything rash, Tony. There are people in the helicopter.”, Pepper advised him.

The lady in the TV (muted for the moment) was agitated as the Iron Man suit enveloped the engineer and stepped out on his landing pad.

“You have exactly ten seconds to fuck off, or I'll sue you all so hard every damn news channel on this planet will have to kiss my ass before being online ever again. I'm not supporting trespassing.”

The raised hand with the repulsor trained at them had the wanted effect, and the camera team all but fled the scene. For good measure Tony waited two minutes and blasted a drone out of the sky that was previously owned by BBC.

“Jarv, volume.”, he said as he came back inside, relishing in the sound the explosion had made once again.

“ _Have we made a mistake to believe the Avengers are Heroes? The National Security Council has neither affirmed not declined any knowledge of this threat. Why are they protecting a criminal?”_

“Great.”

“Fury's scheduling a press conference first thing the day after tomorrow. Avengers must attend, as far as Loki's concerned he will give word.”, Clint told them, texting an affirmative back.

“Right. How do we do this?”, Steve asked, and while the Avengers debated who would say what and when, Loki zoned out. He let his head rest on Thor's shoulder, closed his eyes and tried to find a way out of this without giving up his second persona, as well as trying to get the squirming baby in his stomach to quit whatever workout she wanted to do right now. The normally soothing strokes did not help in the least. A headache announced itself, making him sigh miserable.

“Are you unwell, brother?”, Thor asked quietly, not moving an inch as not to disturb Loki, who shook his head softly and blinked weary.

“It's okay. A bit of a headache, nothing more.”

“Your headaches normally cost us new furniture.”, Thor snorted, making the younger god grin slightly.

“It is not that bad. The glamour I weaved earlier is at fault. It was straining, and I am tired.”

The God of Thunder carefully wriggled his arm free to wrap it around Loki's shoulder, softly laying his warm fingers to his temples, applying pressure, before repeating this on his neck and his hands, and the sorcerer instantly relaxed into the touch. The pain abated, letting him sigh again.

“Thank you.”, he murmured. Pressure Points. Right. Thor had always been good with them.

“ _There is a press conference scheduled for the 24 th, and of course we will have a live feed to the studio when the Avengers and Loki will make their appearance. Following the news now is a special about the attack five years prior, the one this year, and a brush-up on your average Mythology. Don't touch that dial!”_

Great. Let them remember what he had done so they would readily demonize him. What to do? He could not just switch to female and be done with it, not now that the whole world knew him to be housed by Tony and friends. They had to explain that. How? A doppelgänger? Solveig had always been with her husband on every occasion, but Loki did not want to use too much magic, in case he would need it to help Àsdís if need arose. An illusion would strain him. Damn.

“They want Loki, too. Of course.”, Clint informed them a minute later. “There will be police, Military, a SWAT-team, and why do I even mention it, SHIELD.”

“They treat this as if he wanted to play war even if he has done the opposite.”, Tony seethed, pacing through the room.

“Calm down. They have every right to be cautious, they do not know what to expect.”

“I can't let them treat you like some criminal!”, he shouted, throwing his hands up and giving him a look that would burn ice.

“I am a criminal.”, Loki said, calm and sober. “For them I am. They never saw me punished, and to be fair, I never was. We will do this steady and smoothly. With dignity. You will tell them what you want, and afterwards, there will be questions. I will answer.”

Silence ensued, while the images of the invasion played on the muted screen. Loki watched them with strange horrified curiosity. How in all the Nine Realms had he survived living with these beasts for so long? He laughed constrained as he saw his own green cape in a very blurred streak.

“Bambi, they'll tear you apart.”

“They will not. They want to know why, and I am the only to satisfy their questions. Now that they know I am under your protection, they'll think twice about anything they will say or do.”

“Are you sure?”, Pepper wanted to know, eyeing him with a concerned gaze. Loki nodded.

“Yes. Solveig will have to stay at home, claim some illness or the like, my body's not exactly in perfect shape to manage an illusion at the moment. The more magic I use, the more volatile the seiðr gets, in order to sustain the pregnancy, to prevent me from using too much.”

“What will you tell them?”, Steve asked, and the god shrugged.

“I'll see when they ask.”


	2. Interrogation

 

 

The crowd buzzed with excitement, the room was tense, and Loki really had underestimated what a horde of heavily armed men would do to him. The last time he had encountered people like that, he had stepped out of the portal down in the SHIELD-facility and had killed most of them in a heartbeat. If they were to attack him now, he would loose. Being pregnant did cut the agility at some point, and being six months along was definitely far beyond that point. To top that off, he was not sure in the least if he was immune to bullets without his armour (which had not fitted since January). Loki liked to believe he was, after all Clint had told him he had not even sported a graze when the archer had shot his cheek, but there would be no risk he'd take.

He took a deep breath before ascending the two steps and letting Tony drag him to a chair, sitting down to Loki's right, while Thor sat down on his left.

“Lots of love from Fury, if you say a single wrong word they'll riddle you with bullets.”, his husband murmured, wringing a groan out of his throat. Fantastic. The urge to touch the engineer was overwhelming, but even such simple contact as a squeezed hand could prove fatal. He gripped the armrests instead, willing his daughter to rest. She sensed his distress and moved much more than before.

Cameras flashed, taking in the Avengers (to punctuate the business all suited up except Tony, but the red and gold briefcase was displayed blatantly) and the strange enemy, clothed in slacks and a simple shirt, appearing his usual slim self thanks to a spell. Steve stood up and went to the microphone as they had agreed upon. He was their leader, so to speak. He would make the official statements.

“Good morning. First things first, please do not be startled by the heavy artillery, we were promised a peaceful conference. We know you have a lot of questions, and you will have time for them later. Let me make the official statement first and let's see how many of them remain.”

Loki zoned out. He did not need to hear what he had to tell them, he definitely did not need a reminder. He knew what they had agreed upon. Picking at his fingers, he let the words wash over him as he calmed his breathing and his heartbeat, what settled Àsdís somewhat, too. He leaned back, letting his gaze wander over the people, meeting eyes, watching them take in what Steve said.

He could play them, as he had played so many other people before. It would be easy. Some fake tears, a heart warming story. But seeing as his friends knew everything, they would disapprove. This was too serious to risk a game.

He sighed and picked at his ring, tapping a rhythm with his nail against the vibranium.

“...questions now.”, Cap concluded. It was silent for a second, before hands raised with soft rustling.

“How can we trust him? Or you, for that matter? You took him in, it's fraternizing with the enemy.”

Steve shrugged.

“How do you trust anyone? You just do. We have been in contact for a few years now, and there is nothing he has done to betray the trust we placed in him.”

Besides lying until I was forced to spill the truth, Loki thought.

“He helped us out with some attacks we had problems with.”, Bruce added. “Without us asking. He just did. And without demanding a reward.”

Loki rolled his eyes, but smiled softly.

“My brother is trustworthy. I avouch for this.”, Thor boomed. Tony raised an eyebrow that said 'Dude, 21th century'.

“'Avouch'? Who the hell says such things?”, he wanted to know, prompting Thor to lean forward and regard him with a puzzled look.

“Is this not an acceptable word in your language, friend Tony?”

“It's archaic, Thor. Let it be.”, Loki intervened softly, placing his left hand on the forearm of his brother. A camera flashed.

“How is living with a murderer?”, another reporter asked. Steve straightened. Tony frowned.

“Yeah Steve, how is living with me? Come on, be honest.”, he said, triggering a sicker from his comrades - they all had their skeletons in the closet, some more than the others.

“Exhausting and demanding. You know that.”, the blond superhuman said, a smile tugging on his lips. “As for the question: We all have taken lives. We tend not to think too hard about that, or we could not do the Job you have us for. What do you think have we done when taking out the aliens?”

Murmurs broke out in the audience. Loki was a bit impressed how Steve worked with his words.

“Loki brought these aliens here and killed a lot of people. He started this attack. You saved us from him. Why have you accepted him?”

“As I previously stated, he was under the influence of a powerful object, which not only enhanced negative feelings, it also turned his thoughts into something he could not control.”

“You cannot just claim temporary insanity and expect us to be fine with that!”, a middle aged guy yelled, directly at the sorcerer, who sighed and fixated him with strong eyes.

“I know that will not excuse my actions against your people. I would apologize, if I thought that would win back your favours, but I know better than that. It will not help anyone. They died protecting you, and where I come from, this is highly honourable, but I believe that, too, would not be well received. I regret what I have done, to an extend. I cannot claim to be sorry for what I thought was the right direction for me. But I will admit my mistakes and the following misdeeds.”

As his words sunk in, Tony draped his arm over Loki's backrest in a seemingly insignificant gesture, letting his fingers card softly through the hair in his neck. The god smiled unnoticeable.

“There has not been any punishment for him. In another state he would get the death penalty!”

Anew buzzing filled the room when the people started whispering with each other. Thor gripped Mjölnir and almost bounced up, but Loki held him back, standing up himself.

“And I almost got it. I do not know how much you know, so let me get this clear. I was born on a realm so cold, your last Ice Age would seem like child's play against. I was taken in by Odin Allfather, as younger brother to his son, Thor. We... had a little fallout a year before I emerged here with the Chitauri, which ended with me falling into the World's Tree, Yggdrasil, herself. Surviving this cost me my sanity. I was broken, and the one who found me and turned me into his puppet arrived here this February. When your Avengers defeated me, and I was returned to the realm I had wronged first, I would have been executed if not for my mother. It seems motherly love is unconditional in every way.”

It truly was, if his own feelings for his daughter were any indication. He cleared his throat.

“I escaped, and hid here, between you, for a long time. I arrived two months after my defeat. It would have been plenty of time and occasion to finish whatever I started that day in May, had I wanted that. Seeing as you still have your own government, and you just recently learned of my return, it is safe to assume I do not, in fact, _want_ to rule you, despite what I have stated in Stuttgart five years ago.”

Chatter broke out. Àsdís kicked him hard into the ribs, and he winced slightly. Yes, motherly love and all that. He must love her if he continued to be happy at her antics even if they drove him up the wall.

“So you admit to have no punishment doled out to you.”

Loki blinked. And then he smirked.

“I was cast out of the only family I have known, in which I lived for over a millennium. I have broken off any contact to them, and have exiled myself into a realm full of mortal humans, where it is exceedingly difficult to obtain the simplest things like passports or some place to live. I have had more time than ever to think about all the things that went wrong in my very long life, have relived every single moment from the fallout that let me fall into Yggdrasil, to the day I escaped.”

Remember the truth. Thor and Mother love you still. The Avengers stand behind you and have your back. Tony knew all along, and trusted you nonetheless.

There is nothing to fear any more.

“I am afraid of the dark. To this day. There is nothing I fear more than darkness. I have most efficiently lost anything I ever held dear. And that over something I had no control of. Your juridical systems tend to send insane people off with a lighter sentence. I don't want that. What I want, is peace after I stood before the monster who did this to me as well as to you, rescuing your planet. I want to be left alone because I pose no threat to you any more. Had I not been insane all these years ago, your precious earth would be under my thumb already. I do not need an army to overrun you. I had the chance to be king, twice now. I could have easily claimed the throne of Odin Allfather. I have not. I desire no kingdom. I desire peace. There are more important matters to attend to than seeking admiration or pleasing people. Whatever it means to you, I feel more punished now than I would have with the original sentence.”

He more or less felt the bright grin from Tony in his back as he watched the audience. They thought hard about his words, inclined to believe him. Pepper winked at him from one corner in the back, a smile on her face, what practically meant 'wrapped around your finger, Silvertongue'.

Two more hands raised, and Loki nodded to one young woman wit brown hair.

“Why did you help the Avengers against this creep? After what you told us, any normal and sane person would have run for the hills.”

The god snorted, shifting his weight and looking out of the window.

“Let's just say that I had the means to take him out in the most efficient and least damaging way possible. Not to forget the personal vendetta we had running.”

The girl raised an eyebrow at him.

“That's it?”, what had him snorting again, and grinning.

“I have built myself a home here. I have been told on more than one occasion that I am very selfish and jealous of my things, so anything that threatens my city, or my planet if we want to look at the bigger picture, will have to defeat me before I quit the field. As long as my interest stays here, you may count me as a voluntary cooperating force that will defend Earth and its inhabitants. And my interest can stay for a very long time.”

Pepper snickered as she gave him a discreet thumbs-up. Way to win the masses, her face said. Loki smiled, a wicked touch in his eyes, before he remembered something.

“Oh, by the way. The first one to dub me an Avenger, however likely that may seem, is in for a show of what the Trickster is capable of.”

Natasha and Bruce chuckled out loud, and Steve stood up again.

“Okay, we take one last question in the hope that we have alleviated your fears to an extend.”

“Mr. Stark!”, a blond woman in her early thirties called out, and both Loki and Tony turned to her, asking “Yes?”, in sync, what had her smiling widely. Tony groaned.

“Christine. How lovely to see you here, too.”

“Very interesting that he answers to your surname, Tony. Why is that? Oh, don't bother answering. Our camera has taken some very interesting snapshots.”

Loki's heart dropped into his stomach. Damn, it had went so well. His muscles tensed again, already planning how he could twist his obvious reaction to a name he should have no claim to.

The reporter gave them an inquisitive stare as the engineer came forward to the lectern where Steve and Loki stood, before her eyes glinted in the certainty to get one hell of a story out of this. The sorcerer swallowed heavily. That did not bode well for them.

“As I remember, you married recently, Tony. We had an interview with you shortly after, and you told us in great detail how you had manufactured the wedding rings yourself. Tell me, why does Loki wear the one you described as your wife's ring?”

Oh, the wretch had nerve, and a truly smug look on her face. Shame on him for forgetting to hide his wedding band. Loki might have liked her wit if it would not have interfered with his personalities. Tony was at a loss for words, what should be funny in itself, seeing as he always had something to add if he wanted. Steve had gone rigid. Loki shrugged nonchalant, seemingly uncaring.

“My bad. It was a prank.”, he said, waving his right hand over his left, and the ring vanished, what earned him several gasps and shouts of confusion. Right, most of them did not know his skills. A smirk settled on his lips.

“I'm the God of Mischief, what can I say. She's so easy to jest at.”

Tony frowned.

“Watch what you do around my very pregnant wife, if you please.”

Christine chuckled. Àsdís kicked him again hard, this time aiming for a kidney, and his hand shot up involuntary to sooth the ache. His husband gave him a worried look out of the corner of his eyes.

“You're Solveig Stark. You are some kind of wizard-”

“Sorcerer!”, Thor corrected proudly.

“-whatever. We've all seen the footage from Stuttgart, and your illusions are very neat. I just looked over the images from February, and you have worn the ring even then. It's yours. It fit perfectly, and even if this had been a prank you would not have needed to actually _wear_ it.”

Pepper shot them a look that was torn between amusement and trying to figure out what the hell they would do once this would hit. Tony seemingly wanted to communicate silently with her, telling from the raised eyebrows, frowning and winking between them, and oh great, he felt the first signs of the telltale headache that warned him of too much magic used. Loki groaned and rubbed his temple.

“Admit it. Has he played you, Tony? Did you know?”

It was dead silent in the room. The reporters clung to their lips.

“We all knew.”, the engineer answered, causing Loki to turn his head so fast his neck cracked and give him a look that would have frozen fire. Tony chuckled.

“Oh come on now, she _is_ that good. And she's persistent as hell, this would have gotten into the tabloids within the next three days.”

Loki frowned deeply. Chatter arose, and Tony pushed him gently to the back of the makeshift stage they were on.

“Loose the spell and let Thor pressure point you into submission or something. I'll take care of them, I know how to do that.”, he said, earning a sigh.

“Like when you admitted to being Iron Man? Seriously, you should stick to the cards.”, Loki mumbled, but sat down on his chair nonetheless, one hand already being manhandled by his brother. Tony kissed the top of his head softly, before returning to Steve. The buzzing in the room had risen incredibly, and the god was thankful for Thor's ability to erase any pain he had in short time.

“To make it short: Loki has kept his identity a secret until last year, when he felt himself forced to spill the secret due to the threat of the enemy arriving. There was, however, no underlying plot to subjugate us or our planet. He had adopted the body of a woman as to not arouse attention, therefore letting his magical abilities wither away, and we needed them badly against Thanos. What he did not know until then, we already knew who he was, almost from the beginning. When we first met, I kept tabs on him, her, whatever, to rule out any evil things he could come up with. And hey, he _is_ gorgeous, whatever gender he's at the moment, and you know me, I saw the opportunity and took it.”

Loki chuckled mildly, as did the rest of the room.

“We got on really good, and things happened. He's not evil, he isn't bad. He can be wicked and naughty, and his stabs are really mean, but the thing is, something changed his head while attacking us, and that is gone now. Granted, he's no angel, either, but none of us are. Besides Capsicle here of course, he's the paragon of virtue and splendor. Point is”, Tony said, looking around the room, and Loki acknowledged that his decision to trust him had been the best idea of his entire life.

“... don't paint this all so black and white. What he told you about his fear is putting it mildly, I know, he almost broke my leg with one of his nightmares. That explanation I would have loved to hear. A girl three inches shorter than me breaks my leg with superhuman strength.”

More chuckles, and the sorcerer felt a soft blush. Norns, he had been awake?

“You see, we had it under perfect control. So let's conclude this and enjoy the nice day.”, he demanded, before turning his head and frowning.

“Loose the glamour, Reindeer Games. I'm serious, I'll cancel your date with the hot chocolate this evening.”

“I don't want them to see. It's personal and would freak them out.”, Loki answered. Really, how did he think would a bunch of humans react to a pregnant man?

“I don't care. Your hand's shaking, cancel it and shift.”

“Shifting is pretty much out of my league right now. I could end up with four arms.”

...why was his magic so drained at the moment? It was annoying.

“Do as he says, brother. It is high time.”, Thor spoke as Tony ranted “Oh, the hell! Glamour down, now. You not being able to shift must be a new low.”

Giving his husband the evil eye, he did as he was asked, not caring that they were right and his magic was already way beyond the point he was comfortable with in it's volatility. Being female would sooth it better, but Loki did not trust his own ability at the moment to shift.

He did not like being stared at for whatever reason. And the watermelon sized belly sure drew most of the eyes in the room to him.

“How is this possible?”, someone asked. Another shouted “This is not normal!”

Tony grinned and held a hand up to calm them down.

“I assure you, there haven't been any strange rituals or magic induced offerings to strange deities. In fact, his magic just sustains the baby until he changes back into the female body. There is absolutely nothing unnatural about it.”

“Oh this is pretty unnatural, I think! He's a man!”

“And we conceived when he was a woman. How's that unnatural? That's pretty much how it should be, or have I missed a class?”

“So, Mr. Stark, care to explain why you married the person who almost got you killed?”, Christine asked, pen and paper in hand, ready to suck up anything he would say.

“The same reason most other couples marry nowadays. Taxes.”

“Stark.”, Loki exhaled, a sound between being annoyed and terribly amused. Tony threw him a quick smile, before focussing on the reporter once again.

“Really, that was one idiotic question. Why do people marry? Especially me, come on. I never was the one to live the happily ever after with a big house, a white fence and a dog. Okay, the big house I have, and we could Clint dub dog, I think...”

“Stark.”, his husband called again, this time definitely annoyed as Clint spluttered and pouted.

“Sorry. To be honest, it's none of your damn business. It's called privacy, and I'd like to have some of it, too. The truth is, we're good for each other. Let us be, give us the space we need. Just look at him, how could Loki possibly be a danger for any of us?”

Oh, nice one. The sorcerer tried to sit up a bit less slouchy, as he had lost the regal stance after Thor had massaged his neck and was now more of a mildly pained, but relaxed and boneless heap on his chair, leaning heavily on his brother while the older god kneaded his hand in search of the pressure points. Even his eyes had closed briefly. Damn. Loki saw a lot of sympathizing faces, many amused ones, one or two even staring openly at his blatant loss of control. He took back his hand and straightened his spine.

When he had his face under control again, Steve already had ended the conference and Tony pulled him to his feet.

“Well, now it's out.”, he grinned and Loki felt himself kissed in front of what seemed like thousands of cameras which all flashed in sync to take in that image. He sighed and mellowed out in the embrace he was practically forced into, before Natasha cleared her throat, clearly having fun.

“You're blocking the way, lovebirds. Get home already.”

“What, Katniss here giving you the cold shoulder?”, she was answered, and Loki rolled his eyes before following Bruce and manoeuvring their way out.

“That could have gone so much worse.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the stunning reception!! I love you!


	3. Sweet Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally!  
> Five years after the initial attack, the world is not longer left in the dark.  
> Amongst other things, of course.

 

 

It had taken some days until all the informations were distributed and sighted, and until Loki was declared non-threatening for the time being. Of course, there had been articles that painted him the devil still, but they all were used to the fleeting love of tabloids and the press, ignoring them was easy. The art agency 'Solveig' had worked for offered a very generous raise in salary if he would stay with them, stating that they never had that much success with artists and galleries before she/he had come to work with them. He had laughed and promised to stay even without the raise.

One magazine had been tenacious in their attempt to get an interview, and as they threatened Loki over Solveig's twitter-account to call him an Avenger for the rest of the year, he had accepted with a wide grin. The guy they had sent had been nice, but shy, confirming their speculations that this tabloid was new and not very experienced in handling big gigs. Loki had loved playing with him.

He had answered as honest as possible, had been incredibly nice and forthcoming, while blatantly teasing and tantalizing the poor guy, clearly not interested and blushing furiously. After ten minutes, Steve had entered the room and begged Loki to behave, while both the god and his husband had laughed tears (Tony as soon as Loki begun to traumatize the reporter, Loki after the boy was gone again).

The agency sold the interview to three other magazines, under the contract to not even let a single letter slip or twist a word, and now Loki was as loved as any of them. The girls swooned over him as the guys had drooled after Solveig, and that just with some pretty words like “It's very cheesy, but the truth is, we really married out of love” or “the Avengers have rescued me from myself”.

He even had given them some insight how the pregnancy worked. “I have been female often in my life, but thought to be barren. So, this was a really big surprise for all of us, but one of the good kind. I shift gender pretty often, and as the change to male would have terminated the pregnancy, the magic I wield chose to sustain it without me knowing. It's really, really strange, but that does not make it unnatural or a 'male pregnancy'. I'm just a bit more... flexible, one could say.”, what had shut up most of the scientists who wanted more data.

“When the hell have you been in New Mexico, dude?”, Clint wanted to know, magazine in hand, engrossed in the interview. “You told him that you had been there when the big guy was, too. Explain.”

Loki grinned, before nipping at his tea and dragging his feet under his body.

“When you had captured Thor, Agent Coulson briefly left the room, did he not? I used that minute to speak with him.”

Thor muttered something, clearly disgruntled.

“What was that?”

“I said, you lied. You said Father had died.”

Clint raised an eyebrow. “Not nice, Lokes.”

The man shrugged.

“I did it out of spite, and to buy time. I had lost a father, why should you think yours would still live? I was already going crazy with all that happened, it was the only way I saw to bind you to Earth. I am not very sorry. It got you thinking for a change.”

“I wish you had found another way.”, Thor grumbled, but a sigh and a sip of his coffee had him smiling again.

“You tried to lift Mjölnir, didn't you? I am sure you could not resist.”

“Of course I did. Well, she never was inclined to obey me, even then. Thankfully she did not zap me as she did when you thought me dead.”

Thor roared with laughter as Clint interrupted.

“Wait, what? When where you near the hammer?”

“Directly after I was done with Thor. Why? Have I skipped the security measures?”, the Trickster asked, innocently and with a mirthful gleam in his eyes.

“You walked through a SHIELD site without anyone seeing you?”, the archers disbelief went higher.

“If I do not want to be seen, I am not seen. It is as simple as that.”

“The whole Helicarrier-thing after Stuttgart was a game, I presume?”

“You presume correct. Usually, I prefer to be subtle and let my schemes work for me. Under Thanos, I wanted the attention. So I took it.”

Clint groaned.

“You son of a--”

“You would be very wise to think how that statement will end correctly, my lovely little flying monkey.”, Loki warbled and grinned. Clint threw the magazine onto the table and pouted.

“Ass.”

“That I can agree on.”

 

 

The fifth anniversary of his attack came to pass, and Loki attended the small ceremony, as he had the years before, at Tony's side, as Solveig. It felt better, without relying on magic and more natural for the humans, for sure. This time around, every eye was trained on her, and when the official ordeal was over, her little ritual was watched as well. It was unnerving and annoying, and irked her terribly.

“So that's what you have been doing. We wondered, to be honest.”

“It's something private.”, she answered Natasha, who sat down on the ground besides her. Loki had chosen a small patch of grass some twenty feet away from the monument New York had erected for the people who died, surrounded by trees. A bowl made from clay sat at her feet, as well as a branch and herbs. Lavender, peppermint, sage and marjoram lay side by side with a little apple branchlet.

Thor nodded solemn, sitting down as well and placing Mjölnir between the cup and himself. Loki smiled softly.

“Thank you.”

“What is she doing?”, Steve asked quietly, following his comrades and sank down, getting shrugs back from them, as Loki placed the herbs and the branches in the bowl and ignited them with a soft flick of her fingers. She murmured softly as the fire devoured the plants.

“In Asgard, the dead are burned.”, Thor explained, voice unnatural low. “Loki gifts them with a cleansing fire, and additional traits through the herbs and woods. Apple for immortality, lavender for peace, sage for shelter, peppermint for sleep. Marjoram will lead the dead safely to Valhalla or Sessrúmnir. Mjölnir is a talisman that will support her wishes.“

The fire died out. Loki stood up (ungainly, because the damn belly shifted her centre and it was really _heavy_ ), taking the bowl and placing it in front of the monument.

“Eiguð friðr.”

She bowed her head once.  
“Fyrirgefið mér.”

The god turned around after Thor squeezed her shoulder softly, and the Avengers left the scene.

 

 

Pepper kissed him when she arrived at the Tower two hours later. She cupped his face, pulled him down to her and pressed their lips together in a kiss that was just short of counting as a proper snogging. Loki hummed a surprised sound and froze, eyes wide and hands hovering on level with her shoulders, torn between gently unplugging himself and letting her do whatever she wants. It's Pepper. Nobody baulks against Pepper Potts.

“Pep, what are you doing to my husband? Pep? Hello?”

She ignored Tony, but broke the connection.

“You, Loki, are a saint.”, she said, patting his cheek and smiling like she just had smoked something.

Loki was not sure what exactly he had done to be given that particular title and was opening his mouth to deny any action, but she hushed him, pecked him again and turned to Tony.

“If you ever do anything to jeopardize this relationship, I'll kill you.”, she happily announced and grabbed a mug and some coffee.

“Hey, you are the one who stuck her tongue down his throat!”

“Oh come on, don't be a spoilsport. He's the best PR that we had in years.”

Suddenly Tony laughed and pinched her behind. Loki blinked.

“Have we entered some sort of weird threesome without me noticing?”

Both Pepper and the engineer cackled with glee and embraced him.

“Why, are you offering?”, the man asked, and his husband perked his eyebrow up. Tony snorted.

“Your little stunt at the monument probably got half the planet in tears. She's just grateful.”

“You're _redeemed_. They love you. They fawn over you. And, of course, you're _handsome_ as fuck.”

Huh. What about that.

“As nice as this is, you flattering me and all that, could we please sit down? I think I need to watch the news.”

 

 

In June Thor had returned from one of his frequent visits to Asgard (he still was Crown Prince and therefore had his duties to attend, even if he loved Midgard and sought to learn whatever came his way to be a wise king once he was deemed ready). He presented Loki with a soft, square, woollen cloth, roughly 4feet long a side. It was a lush green, dotted with golden and red points, and it had the sorcerer smiling brightly and wide.

“I assume this is some kind of special asgardian baby blanket?”, Tony had asked, getting nods back.

“Aye. Mother weaved it. It will protect Àsdís while she sleeps.”, the Thunderer had answered before reaching into his backpack again (just imagine, Thor in full armour, and a tiny backpack in bright yellow on his broad back – it was hilarious and sent them all into a laughing fit every time he used it) and produced two strange fluffy things which had Loki chuckling with glee.

“By Yggdrasil, Thor, where in Hel's name have you found them? I thought mother had the wretched things burned.”

Taking the smaller one from his grinning brother, he sniffed it and grimaced, then prodded it with stiff fingers and sighed. Waving a hand, the thing became a bit less fuzzy and resembled something akin to a dog.

“Mother would never burn our loyal cuddly toys, you know that.”

Tony spit out the coffee he had just tried to swallow.

“ _Cuddly toys_?”

“Don't tell me you haven't had one when a child.”

“I'm sorry, but you two actually had something to cuddle with? Gods need plushies?”

Thor frowned, while Loki restored the bigger fuzzy thing into something that looked like a cockroach with antlers. Tony stared horrified at the thing.

“What the hell? Okay, that other one is a dog, or something like that, I get it. But this? Is this some kind of fantasy-breed your people came up with?”

He got back roaring laughter from the brothers sitting on his couch. Loki returned the toy to Thor, who clutched it eagerly in his fingers and looked at it with adoration, and Loki did the same thing with his little pup.

“Even we were children. All children need something to cuddle with. These were gifts from Freyja, a goddess from Vanaheim.”

Holding up the black dog, he said “This is Fenrir. You may have heard of him in your myths. I assure you, once I could focus my magic enough, he really was a feral beast.”

Pointing to Thor, who wriggled his cockroach playfully in the air, he snickered.

“It's a bilgesnipe. Repulsive creatures with scales, and I never understood why Thor loved the bloody thing so much, or why Freyja deemed them nice enough to represent a child's toy.”

“Now Loki, do not hurt her feelings. Snipey was always good to me.”

“Yes, I know, the very well-loved condition of it spoke a clear language. It was barely recognizable.”

Tony groaned and turned to flee.

Really. Gods and their blasted cuddly toys.

 

 

Loki stayed female after that as the due date came closer, chatting with Frigga over the figurine and letting her talk him through various scenarios what would happen once the child would like to be born. The sorceress sniggered every time Tony flinched when listening to the descriptions his mother-in-law used, face blanching and smiling uncertain.

“Oh come on you big baby, don't make such a fuss. I'm the one who will do the hard work, you will just have to hold my hand, if at all.”

“I'm sorry if I cannot keep my cool if you talk about blood and slime and all the things that could go wrong, and I'm really uncomfortable thinking about what you will have to squeeze through your... you know. It makes me physically sick just thinking about.”

Loki had smirked at that.

“You are such a whining crybaby. Really, and you are one of earth's Mightiest.”

“Don't you dare go there, Rudolph. No insulting my suit.”

Frigga had laughed and promised to be less graphic with any details she would relay to Loki.

 

 

“Jarvis, could you call Bruce for me?”

The single good thing about being a whale ready to burst was that any time Loki wanted or needed someone, they would come running without a second thought. It was delightful.

“Of course, Madam. Would you like me to inform Mr. Stark, too?”

“Oh gods, no. I want to deliver in peace. First Bruce, and then we'll see.”

“As you wish.”

The scientist entered the penthouse roughly ten minutes later, greeting her and settled for making tea first, before letting himself be informed what exactly was happening.

“I've had contractions for the last twelve hours, I thought it would be nice to have you here. I have already charmed the bed to keep clean whatever happens, and my water broke two hours ago.”, Loki said, not a trace of pain or exhaustion in her face, making Bruce splutter a bit at the calmness in her voice.

“And now you're drinking tea with me as if you had all the time in the world?”

The god grinned and rubbed her abdomen as another contraction rippled through her.

“I have a really high pain tolerance, when I'm not overly taken by surprise, and thanks to my mother I know exactly when to do what. As long as I'm still waiting for everything to open up nicely, I have time to drink tea.”

“Shouldn't we call Tony or Thor?”

“And let them run around like chickens? Please. I need all the strength I can get, without having to worry about these two.”

 

 

As Loki had anticipated, once she had Jarvis call her husband, he was in a full panic and it took Natasha to calm him down again, seeing as Loki had better things to do than argue with him.

“That's why in Asgard men aren't allowed into the women's chambers in these situations.”, she muttered, groaning softly. By the Norns, she would castrate Tony once this was over.

Àsdís made her great entrance half an hour later, and had Loki not known for sure that Thor was not in fact her blood, she would have sworn they shared the same lungs. Besides screaming and crying bloody murder, she was small, wrinkled and fortunately very pink and not blue, albeit with powder blue eyes.

“Welcome, little Àsdís.”, Loki whispered and kissed her head, and then let Bruce fetch Tony and Thor, who entered in a hurry – still in panic mode.

“She's so tiny.”, Thor said in awe after a few seconds of dumbfounded staring. Loki snorted.

“Any bigger and she would have not come out as easily.”

Tony sat down gingerly besides her and beamed so bright he could have highlighted the whole Tower. Loki shifted the child a bit, so that he could take her, and the smile turned awry.

“You know I don't like being handed things.”, he told her cautiously, and got back a dark scowl.

“Cease this idiotic notion at once and by the Norns take your daughter. She's no thing and you are being ridiculous.”, the god growled and the engineer did what he was told post-haste. A goofy grin settled down on his features as he cooed to the little scrunched up face that looked sleepily up to him.

Thor sat down on her other side and squeezed her hand.

“Are you all right? Have you need of anything?”

Loki laughed softly and squeezed back.

“I'm fine. Bruce did a wonderful job being his usual calm self, and that helped significantly. At the moment, I just need to rest a bit. I already fed her, so she should not fuss for a few hours. Take her to meet the others, and if she's crying and will not calm down, have Jarvis play her my heartbeat, that should do the trick.”, she instructed, yawning and snuggling down in the sheets, though not without kissing the tiny hand that was wrapped around her finger before gently prying her off.

Tony chuckled.

“Well, if you insist.”

 

 

Pepper and Jane were apparently in head over heels the second Tony showed them the tiny human, or so Loki was told when she woke up some hours later, Natasha besides her with some juice and a sandwich.

“Oh thank the gods, someone still uses her brain here.”, she chuckled and the assassin grinned, handing over the food.

“They dote on the baby as if she was the last one on the whole planet.”

“Jane's already a bit frustrated that even Tony Stark has done the unimaginable and married, and after almost six years fawning over Thor, she seems to want to, too. She appeared a bit shocked herself as she admitted that it would be nice to marry.”, Loki snickered.

“That now has to be the icing on the cake. I heard human woman are strangely affected by newborn children.”

Natasha laughed.

“You have no idea what happened out there. It's like their ovaries exploded or something.”

Loki almost choked on her bite because of laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> She's here! Gosh, I love the girl. It's so perfect writing her.
> 
> If anyone wonders: I tried to translate "Have peace" and "Forgive me" into some mix of icelandic and Old Norse. Just for your information.  
> Thank you all for so many comments and kudos and bookmarks already!!


	4. Meeting the Grandmother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter-title spoils all secrets ;)

 

 

A routine established itself over the next few weeks. Bruce would check Àsdís, Thor, Jane and Pepper would kidnap her so that Tony and Loki could rest a bit, while Steve, Natasha and Clint tried to keep the press in check. Sometimes the teams varied, sometimes they met for a collective dinner or lunch.

In August (five weeks after the delivery), Tony deemed them ready for some exclusive photos, so that the tabloids would cease bugging them and to shamelessly brag with the sweetest child in the whole world.

“You know, I'm still a bit disappointed that she's so normal. I secretly hoped she would have these really cool red eyes.”, he said, lying on the floor on his side, child in front of him, nudging Àsdís' nose and grinning as she squealed in delight and flailed her arms around.

Loki snorted.

“They are not cool. They're freaky as hell. She will be under the watch of the whole world, she is very lucky to be normal, at least in that regard. Being blue or sporting blood red eyes is probably the last thing she needs.”

“Hello, she was delivered by the Hulk himself. Nobody would dare hurt our princess.”

“I do not want to try and find out. Really.”

Loki had settled down to use the male body most of the time, save the times Àsdís needed a feeding, and even the press was getting used to see them together more often than not. Once they had been spotted in Central Park, walking the little girl so she would get some sun and fresh air, but not one camera had gotten a sharp image of them. Loki had made sure of that.

In September the pictures were made publish, and another wave of swooning woman practically laid themselves down to the Stark's feet.

Thor had taken Jane to meet his parents, and they came back engaged.

“High time, brother.”, Loki had smirked as he dumped all the wedding magazines Pepper had given him a year prior in Jane's arms.

“If you are very lucky, I may be able to obtain the dress we donned Thor in when he lost Mjölnir.”

The blond god looked not very ecstatic at that prospect, but it had sent the rest into a fit of giggles that had Loki grinning with mischief.

 

 

“We'll be gone for one day at most, Pep. I will bring him back alive and well, and I will make sure that he doesn't get his hands on something he should not. Deal?”

“I swear, if I find some strange asgardian tech around here I'll spank you so hard you won't sit for a week.”, she growled, earning a slight hysteric giggle from both males.

“The weirdest threesome ever. I tell you.”, Loki chuckled, still smiling, reaching out as the red-head gave him back the now three month old Àsdís. Her blue eyes had taken a swing to green, albeit a light brown ring directly around her pupils made it hard to tell what would win in the end. Her hair was a curly mess of dark brown locks, courtesy of both her parents. She gurgled happily at Pepper, who waved her hand and smiled with wide eyes at the child, what made Tony groan.

“Okay, stop the antics, we have to go now.”

“Have fun, boys!”

Loki took one of Tony's hands in his, concentrated for a second, and trailed one of the old paths that led to Asgard, emerging just outside the palace. He extended his shrouding spell to his husband and daughter before tugging the very stunned engineer into the corridors.

“Come on already, you can have a look later.”

“But sweet pea, _look_! It's so shiny!”

The god could not hold back a loving snort at the childish awe his husband managed to squeeze into the adjectives.

“Wait until you see the sky here. Or the Bifröst. This I imagine could be your wettest dream coming true.”

A pathetic whine behind him had him chuckling.

“Cease your wailing, you're worse than our daughter.”

Loki could _feel_ the pout. Rolling is eyes, he stopped for a second and turned around.

“I promise to take back home something that will fulfil your wildest dreams. But first we need to step it up a notch and _leave this part of the palace_.”

Trust Tony to find the worst possible place for slowing down. The halls were full of guards, and Loki was not very fond of being found out now at all times. They were near the entrance to the weapons vault, which was heavily warded, even more so, it seemed, after Thanos had obtained the Tesseract – or even before, after he had sneaked the Jotuns in, and after he had gotten hold of the Casket. Loki had figured he could as well hold onto that. It was a small recompense for being the Lie Incarnate. And he actually could use it if he wanted.

Àsdís fussed a bit, smacking her lips in the clear demand for food, preferably now.

“Patience, princess. Just a few more minutes.”

“Okay, I get it, stealth mode, right?”, Tony finally answered, still vastly impressed by anything.

“Got it right on. Now shut up and follow me.”

Cautiously turning around a corner and some more hallways, he let Àsdís chew on his finger as long as he could not provide the real thing, finally arriving at the doors which he wanted to see. Tony was silent, probably trying to find out how things worked around here.

There were no guards in front of the family wing, as always. They had left New York in the evening, meaning it was something between morning and midday in Asgard, so Odin would be in the great entrance hall, conversing with the council and Frigga would likely be in her garden.

“Careful now. Do not step directly on the threshold. It holds a spell which is triggered by people not counting as family in Mother's eyes. I do not know how it will react to you.”

Opening the door, they gingerly stepped inside, and Loki closed the door with a silent 'click'.

Loki relaxed visibly and waved his hand, cancelling the shrouding spell.

Àsdís pushed his finger out of her mouth, smacking her lips even more demanding and giving him a bold look that meant she would cry if there was no food right now. The god chuckled.

“Such a clever girl already.”

“What now? Are you okay if I fetch your Mom alone? Before our girl gets really cranky, I mean.”

Loki nodded and sat down on a chair, shifting as they spoke.

“The door to your right leads to her garden. Please go, or our little banshee here will alarm her.”

If the mewling sounds and grabbing fingers were any indication, that is.

Tony grinned, kissed both of them and went to find Frigga, who stormed through the door half a minute later with a brilliant smile.

“Loki!”, she greeted her daughter, softly kissing her cheek and carding fingers through her hair.

“Mother. I hope you are well.”, the Trickster answered and leaned into the touch. It had been too long since the last time, that being the request for literature.

“How could I not, when you visit? You should have sent word, I would have arranged lunch.”

Loki crookedly grinned while feeding her daughter. Frigga's eyes wandered down for the first time and exploded in a look of absolute admiration and love.

“By Yggdrasil, she is adorable. She's the spitting image of you when you were her age.”

 

 

They had settled down in the private garden once they had finished nursing, Frigga completely engrossed with the baby in her arms as she doted on her. Tony had been baffled by the sky, as Loki had anticipated before, without doubt trying to figure out how that would come to be.

“Mother, how comes that the apples you gave us did not in fact possess a single trait that could explain why we changed? We tested absolutely everything. How did they work?”

A wicked grin was the answer.

“You see, once touched by an Aesir, they loose their magic. The apple tree Idunn guards is infused with it, so the fruits it bears carry its power. To keep its might secret, any fruit is enchanted to emit any seiðr at once when touched, to nullify the chance of it being misused or duplicated. Idunn alone may harvest and touch the apples, and she alone may whisper the names to the fruits which they may gift. Once you had eaten them, they recognized your touch as one of the Aesir and ceased to be magical.”

Loki laughed as Tony groaned.

“That is mean. Really, really mean. Come on, we almost died from curiosity.”, the engineer pouted.

“We spent weeks making juice and mush and solutions out of them.”

Frigga chuckled, eyes marvelling at the little girl who played concentrated with her hair, while always looking around to her father when he opened his mouth.

“Has she displayed any Jotun traits?”, she asked, interested, tickling her tummy and cooing at the giggle she got in return.

Loki shook his head, bemused.

“Not that I noticed. Of course, I haven't exposed her to something cold enough that it could trigger a change as it did with me. As it stands, the probability of encountering such level of coldness is vastly smaller when there is no big brother who insists on breaking laws and rules, and even more so when living on Midgard. To be honest, I do not want to find out.”

“You still despise your own heritage so much that you would deny hers?”, Frigga asked gently, looking at him with non-judging eyes, and Loki closed his, a deep sigh emerging as the well known feeling of disgust washed over him whenever he thought about the blue skin lurking under the fake membrane he chose to wear.

“He's still trying to come to terms with that.”, Tony said softly, before grinning. “I would have _loved_ to have my personal Stitch-copy. My previous attempts at goading him to switch to Frost Giant were met with a wide array of biting remarks and looks, some very cutting and scathing, so I'll have to settle for the one who cannot defend herself and dress her up all nice and very blue this Halloween or next.”

Loki arched an eyebrow and his lips curled into a faint sneer.

“I cannot fathom why you are so interested in this. I know, I know-”, he stopped any explanation from his husband once he sucked in a breath, “we've been over this a thousand times already. Give me time. I am trying to accept a millennium worth of prejudices and loathing, this will take a while. A very long while.”

Àsdís locked eyes with him, a bright smile taking over as she recognized her mother, what immediately resulted in a equally beaming grin from Loki as she reached out to him in the clear announcement to switch person right now. They chuckled and the girl was settled down on the sorcerer's lap, where she grabbed his shirt and cooed content, drooling all over the fabric.

“You are a little slug. How are you even able to produce these vast amounts of spit?”, he asked, features gentle besides the remark and stifling a laughter as she searched for his face with big and wide eyes, expression highly innocent.

“Oh boy, if she pulls that one every time she's been up to something, we'll need Natasha to keep her in check.”, Tony chuckled and grinned as his daughter quickly turned her head in direction of his voice.

“She is very fixated on you when you speak, Anthony.”, Frigga remarked, and Loki would swear she was pleased beyond all measure with what she witnessed in the isolation of her private garden.

“He is not able to keep quiet, what amounted to hours of idle chatter, in a rather one-sided conversation with my belly. She knows his voice best and loves it since he started with it.”, the raven haired man said softly, waving a hand to summon butterflies which flew around his daughter. She watched them fascinated and waved her tiny fists at them.

“Heimdall knows that you still live, Loki. He has watched Thor and through him has seen that the midgardians have recognized you. Odin forbade him to speak of this, but know that not one person will dare to attack you should you choose to arrive through less... secret ways.”, Frigga then told them, a serious shade in her voice. Her son frowned, and Tony shifted his body so he would sit a bit more upright.

“It is easier to hide. I do not crave acceptance from anyone in the palace any more. Openly stalking through the halls would only endanger her.”, he answered, shattering the illusion and calling forth another one, bright colourful orbs which softly danced around her in an attempt to lull her to sleep.

“You are still my son, still a Prince of Asgard. Your titles have been returned to your name as soon as I knew of them being revoked. Odin has no right to take you away from me. May he claim you exiled or cast out, I do not care. I have watched over your sleep and I have stilled your tears. Nothing will ever change that you are my family.”, she said, grave and serious. Loki heard the underlying determination, what had him smile involuntarily.

“And I am glad beyond words for that. But Mother, I do not belong here. I never did, and I have come to terms with that. I have no need of my former titles any longer, as I am not eager to return here. Please, do not alienate yourself from Thor or your husband more than you already have just for me. The whole affair has cost me a very important part of my life, I do not wish to see it destroy more of yours.”

Frigga watched him intently, searching his face for the truth. Loki tried his best not to crumble under the stare.

“Please. I do not want you to hurt.”

She scoffed.

“Loki, I have not stopped hurting for six years. Since you felt the need to fight your own brother, since you fell into the hole created by the Bifröst, since I saw you with Thanos – there has been scarcely a second when I did not weep over all that this damned secret has cost us. Thor lost his faith after you escaped. He doubted everything, and he was so lost whenever he came to see me. He could not understand why you did what you did, and it tore him apart. That you now can speak to each other as you have not since you were clutching my apron strings is akin to a wonder, with how thick-headed you both are.”

Loki chewed on his lip while he was scolded by his mother like a five-year-old. Tony sniggered softly, nudging a foot with one of his gently. The god shot him a exasperated look, prompting the engineer to intensify his snicker.

“She has a point, you know. You two bounced away from each other like oil and water, and mostly because of you. I know that you have your reasons, but seriously, you need each other so badly it's almost comical. Since you made up you're practically inseparable. When he comes here for some days you miss him so much you steal the cockroach out of Àsdís crib, just to cuddle with something that belongs to Thor. I'm actually a bit jealous.”

Oh by the Norns, this was humiliating. Loki felt a deep blush staining his cheeks, and nervously tucked a loose strand of hair behind his ear. But who could blame him? He had loved Thor for so long, for all his virtues and faults equally, and not being watched all the time, not being Odinsons, merely brothers and friends had made mending their relationship so easy, almost simple. He remembered the one evening that had opened and closed any wound any of them had sported clearly. Thor and Jane had been invited to dinner, sometime in May, to get some 'family time', as Tony had dubbed it after the first timid reconciliation between the brothers. However, at some point Thor had made a stupid remark, Loki's hormones had gone crazy, and five minutes later they nagged and bickered with each other as if they were the worst enemies again.

Roaring and screaming went hand in hand with insults and biting remarks. Jane and Tony had left the table as Thor almost broke it in half with a swing of his fist, settled down on the couch and watched while drinking coffee. The yelling had changed into sobbing and crying with Loki, presumably hormone-based, what had effectively stopped anything Thor had wanted to do. Instead he had pulled the younger one into an embrace that would have broken a great number of bones in any other person. Loki had gripped his shoulders, had pressed his face against the broad chest and muttered something under his breath that had Thor shake his head and say 'It's okay, all is well' over and over, while Loki cried snivelled like a child. Jarvis had confirmed later that there had been a great deal of apologies spoken, and something like 'When he told me of my heritage I was in desperate need of you, and you were gone because of me, and I never intended that. I was so alone, Thor, and so, so frightened. I don't deserve your love after all I've done, but I won't let you go ever again'. They had gloriously hugged it out, finally sitting on the floor, huddled together as if there was some magnetic force between them, snuffling and snotty, but grinning and ultimately reconciled.

“...sleep.”

Loki blinked in confusion. Both Frigga and Tony watched him as he tried to figure out what had been said.

“You seriously zoned out there for a moment, Bambi.”

“I'm sorry. What did you say?”

“Your mom proposed a walk around the apparently excellent royal gardens, and knowing that our lil' zombie here is dead to the world for at least two hours now that she's asleep, whatever the hell we do with her, let's use the time.”

Royal gardens he could do, Loki reluctantly admitted to himself. It would be nice. Sighing, he nodded.

“Very well.”

 

 

Frigga had chewed him out one more time while they strolled down the well-kept grounds, Àsdís safe in Tony's arms. She had cursed his stubborn way as well as the lack of foresight in the Allfather, knowing quite well they had to clash, in the end. That it had happened like this, with Odin unable to answer Loki's questions, and Loki unable to put the childish envy behind him and for once not lashing out as soon as his brain had found a way to make him feel better, well, that had been as unfortunate as it could be.

“You always were your father's son, Loki, if you want to hear it or not. You copied him in every way you could, and really, if I did not now better, you could have been his blood. More so than Thor. You share more traits than you are aware of.”

Yes, well, that was exactly what Loki did not want to hear. There was no way in hell he would ever accept that. He was not like Odin. Loki would never hide anything that big from his own--

Oh how well his mother could play him. He sighed.

Grudgingly, he admitted to himself that he should perhaps check his daughter for any Jotun-traits she could share with his... bluer self.

“Promise me you'll think about what we have spoken today.”, Frigga asked of him. “And remember that I never will push you in a direction you do not want to go. I merely suggest a way. I love you, my Loki, whatever will happen to my family.”

By the Nine. He probably had some serious thinking to do.

 

 

Upon their return Tony had made a beeline for his lab, tugging his husband and daughter along.

“What are we doing here, Tony?”

“I remember you promising me a new toy. And after I had to stare at a more or less impossible sky all night, what with the stars shining in broad daylight, indicating you have no atmosphere up there, I really need to do something to calm me down. Toy now. Please.”

A bubbling laugh had left Loki at that, but as he shook his head and placed the sleeping Àsdís in her lab-cot he smiled, before coming up to the engineer.

“I do have something, but it is not of Asgard. Of course, you could always play with the Tesseract.”

Tony frowned and made space on his desk.

“Nah. Boring. We have all the readings we can do in both active and passive state, and unless you decide to join the fun we can't do anything with it. New toy. Daddy needs something awesome.”

DUM-E whirred in excitement, and Butterfingers buzzed a bit. Loki grinned.

“It's marvellous how you can stir emotions in your robots, and without an A.I.”

“Yes, well, they're my babies, you know that. Interestingly enough they now have a little sister, a real, breathing one. Never thought that would happen. I suppose DUM-E was a bit jealous at first, but he got around that, didn't you?”, he beamed at his first bot, patting it and earning another humming that sounded suspiciously like consent.

“Come on Lokes, don't keep me on the tenterhooks.”

Loki chuckled. The biggest child Earth had ever seen, and it was his husband. Oh well.

“You should get some gloves, just to be on the safe side.”, he said, waving his arms in an instinctive move to call forth the Casket of Ancient Winters, setting it down on the table before his fingers could react to the artefact. Bracing himself against the desk, he studied it's intricate patterns, the soft blue light and the energy he could feel rushing through it.

“Wow. That's... interesting. What is it?”, Tony asked, excited, as he tapped the box with a screwdriver, and grabbed a pair of gloves as Loki had requested.

“It's the relic that Odin took from Jotunheim when the last great war ended. The Frost Giants used it to stabilize their realm, and to travel to others. It is powerful, very much so, and if it were to be unleashed, it probably would freeze this planet before you could say a single word.”

The smaller man prodded the blue thing with a gloved finger, pursing his lips as nothing happened. Loki smirked and touched the lid with his index finger, and the faint glow exploded at the contact.

“Show-off.”, his husband muttered, getting rid of the gloves and repeating what the god had done. Nothing happened. He frowned a bit more, getting a chuckle out of Loki.

“It will not react to you. Only a Jotun is able to wield it. So if you want to study it, you will have need of me.”

The look Tony gave him wrought a deep belly laugh out of his throat. Yes, their daughter had the kicked puppy face definitely from her father. Between the blatant begging for attention and help, the brown eyes held an intensive glint of interest and hunger for knowledge. Bruce and Jane described it as 'Tony's science boner'.

“I will have recompense for this later, do we understand each other?”

A raised eyebrow was his answer. Loki sighed and smiled wryly.

“The things I do for you. Jarvis, activate the energy scanners.”

“Of course, Sir.”

Then, he gripped the handles and watched, as the lack of comprehension on Tony's face switched to one of absolute delight.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...am I mistaken or did Loki just really put up with his Jotun skin just to please Tony? He's getting soft ;D  
>  The visit happened in October, as Àsdís was born in late July, if you're confused - I constantly have to count months and days to keep up how old she is. @.@
> 
> Thank you all for your interest! You're the best!!


	5. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Halloween happens!  
> The Casket of Ancient Winters is prodded and used like a guinea pig - Science Nerds...

 

 

“You should have seen this, it was absolutely and positively awesome. I mean, yes, the Tesseract has a higher energy-level, but this had elemental features! It just made _whoosh_ and my chair was frozen solid.”

Natasha, Clint and Steve were highly amused at the constant babble that left Tony's mouth when they met for dinner. Jane and Bruce sucked up everything and promised to come by first thing in the morning, to see for themselves. Soon they were in their own world full of scientific things that made little sense to the rest. Thor happily played with his niece, goofy grin and all.

“And _Loki_. Sweet mother of Jesus, I swear I've never seen anything like that. Not even Thor had me that fascinated. Sorry, Big Guy.”

“I have taken no insult from you, friend Tony.”, he said, followed by “Who is the sweetest little princess in all the Nine Realms?” as he lifted her in the air with his big hands and she giggled in excitement. Loki chuckled.

“Fury has asked us to give back the Tesseract. Again.”, Clint said after he had made a gagging face to Thor. He really disliked this whole family-thing they had, Loki thought. Well, on the outside. If one looked a bit closer, he loved every second of it.

“You know the answer to that request by heart, monkey.”

“Alien.”

“Bird-brain.”

“Munchkin.”

“Oh, that one was good, if tainted by the connection to Oz, which you have only read or seen because of my 'flying monkey'.”, Loki admitted.

“Have not. It's a classic, and I have you know, Cookie Monster, that I have read it before you sat your ass down here.”

“No cussing in front of my daughter, Barton.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

Natasha grinned, before her eyes widened and she hopped up to fetch something big from the kitchen.

“I almost forgot. Boys, and Jane, we have pumpkins. Halloween's in three days, and we have barely decorated. yet”, she said, setting down the foot long vegetable with an audible 'clunk'.

“We're going trick and treating, aren't we?”, Tony asked, making Steve laugh.  
“Aren't you a bit too old to go rally sweets?”

“Well, not for me, Àsdís wants to go, and what father would I be to deny her wishes like that!”

“She cannot even crawl for herself.”, Jane threw in with a grin.

“Subsidiary matter. I've already thought of the perfect costumes. Jarv, display!”

“Very well, Sir.”

One of the holographic screens lit up, catching them all in a fit of laughter.

“You're sure you want to do that?”

“Without a doubt. Come on, it will be funny as hell.”

 

 

Slaughtering the pumpkins the next day had brought forth the talent in them all. Steve had outdone himself and carved an artistic masterpiece which, when highlighted, displayed Fury's face, with shadows at all the right places to get the perfect creepy feeling. Clint and Thor had chosen more simpler things, the SHIELD-logo and a grotesque face, while Jane and Natasha had carved planets and stars. Tony of course had replicated his Arc reactor, proudly working in little LED-lights so that it emitted the right blue glow, and Loki had decorated his pumpkin with a bilgesnipe, what had Àsdís coo out of glee.

“She's got a crush on Snipey.”, Tony explained, and Thor beamed at that.

“She likes my plushy then?”

“Oh, above everything else. Just look at her eyeing that thing Loki has done.”

It was adorable how she slapped her hands on the pumpkin, startled at the drumming sound it emitted, and then gurgled happily because she thought the thing Loki had carved answered her and smashed her tiny hands against the orange peel all the merrier.

“In all honesty, how the hell can you two not be related?”, the sorcerer asked irritated as he watched the same oafish grin on both Thor's and Àsdís face grow until it almost split their skulls. “I don't understand how you are so similar.”

“The funny thing is, since you were the one who carried her, I can hardly be blamed to be unfaithful!”, Tony chirped out, completely unfazed and pressed a kiss to Loki's temple.

Thor picked the girl up and she smiled at him and pulled his beard.

“It is just like with you and Mother. She always was your favourite, and you share the same expressions.”

“Seconded!”, Tony chimed in, placing a battery in his pumpkin so that the LEDs would work for some hours.

“Not to forget the stern scowl you copied from Father.”, the blond god mentioned in an afterthought, while cradling his niece on one big arm and tickling her feet. Loki shot him a nasty glare which had him booming with laughter.

“That is the one I meant.”

“Oh, Norns and Yggdrasil, why are you all so set on reminding me?”, the sorcerer growled, while angrily jerking his hand in a fluid motion, and the pumpkins glowed for a second.

“No idea. What did you just do to our crippled monsters?”

“I made sure they will look as fresh as they do now for at least a week.”

 

 

The pumpkins were decorating the entrance of the Tower for all to see, and Tony had programmed one of his less dangerous suits to distribute sweets to anyone who came across the doors and called either 'trick' or 'treat'. Jarvis controlled that it would not malfunction.

Loki was a bit nervous. Their costumes were funny, yes – but what if it was seen wrong? He tugged at his collar.

“You look so much like Steve, it's downright creepy.”, Tony muttered as he himself tugged on the outfit Clint had lent him.

Pepper and Jane were going as fairies, all glittery and sparkly, while the engineer had proposed a costume-switch amongst the Avengers. They had drawn lots, no one escaping. Tony and Loki had drawn Captain America and Hawkeye, Natasha would be Iron Man (with suit and everything, and she had been very eager to test one out for ages), Thor impersonated Hulk, while Bruce had been given a Mjölnir-replica and a blond wig, Clint had expressed his utter delight at being forced to wear one of Tasha's catsuits, and Steve had gotten really lucky with the Joker-card and would go as Fury, eyepatch and leather coat for real, because Loki's armour was already scratched off the list and reserved for Àsdís.

“I am nowhere near as broad shouldered as Cap. We just match in height. You, on the other hand, have much in common with our resident archer. And the suit clothes your arc reactor. Nobody's going to see it.”

“I'm one lucky guy, hm? So, where did I leave... aha!”, the engineer said triumphantly, pulling a tiny green cape out of a bag and fastened it on his daughters shoulders with little golden buttons.

“That was the best idea I have ever had in my life. It's so cute I could vomit rainbows.”

Loki snorted while pinching the blue fabric in which he was clad.

“My armour should technically never be considered 'cute', whatever the context.”

“Oh come on, she's dainty as hell in your outfit.”

“She's a nurseling, of course she is cute in whatever we clad her. That is her nature.”

“Wait till you see her hat. I had it here... somewhere... there it is!”, Tony exclaimed, and when Loki turned around the next time to watch what horrors his husband had thought of, he was short of choking of laughter.

“There. Mommy's girl.”

“This is so going on Facebook.”, Loki chuckled as he had calmed down a bit and was not tearing up any more. Tony had her in his arms, and she was wrapped up in a soft leather tunic, a green shirt, woollen trousers and perfect replicas of his own boots, finished with the little cape and a yellow-golden hat with tiny horns, completely knitted. Her father grinned proudly.

“Best idea ever.”

 

 

Pepper had called it 'charm offensive' and after they had nagged enough, one of Tony's receptionists had taken a picture of them, before they went and annoyed the neighbourhood. They were hardly the only ones who were dressed up as the Avengers, and they were seldom recognized for being the real deal. Àsdís earned a lot of candy just for being the sweetest thing on the planet and smiling toothless whenever she was cooed at. As soon as she had fallen into her post-mealtime nap sometime later, they split up, Bruce and Steve heading back with her, while the others went to find a party.

And well, if some of the pumpkins learned to talk on their way, or other decorations were moving and floating, scaring the hell out of anyone who passed by, who was to prove it had been Loki? It was Halloween. It could have been anything.

 

 

Loki had cut down on his hours with the art agency, stating 'My husband is a science nerd, as you probably know, and he is adamant that I share my wisdom with him. I'll be held captive in his lab until I tell him what he wants to know'.

Following that, Tony had summoned Bruce and Jane as well and Loki had shown them the Casket, freezing a desk in a heartbeat and stunning the two newcomers speechless. Adding to that, the god had told them of the ability to travel between realms with the artefact.

“That is the nearest that I have come to an actual Einstein-Rosen-Bridge, not counting the Bifröst.”, Jane had told him with wide eyes, awestruck and probably with a science boner as big as Tony's.

“I will try to give you an understanding on how it works. Be aware of the possible logical gap between our races. It could very well be that you need time to grasp the concept.”

“Sweet pea, if we have anything as of now, it would be time.”

So Loki had started with the connection through Yggdrasil, the energy flow between the realms, the points on the 'tree' where energy balled up so compressed that it bent room and probably time, thusly opening a way to travel faster than light and over distances unimaginable for mankind.

“The Bifröst, Tesseract and Casket all use these knots to anchor themselves to one point in the universe. The Bifröst is static and unmovable, whereas the Tesseract is fluid and may connect to the energy of Yggdrasil without actually having the need of being near to such a point. I will have to experiment with the Casket, as I have never seen it being used for interstellar travel.”

“So, basically that whole World-Tree-Issue is some kind of energy that builds up the universe?”, Jane summarized.

“I have no adequate words in your language to correctly describe it, so, yes, that would be the crude essence of it.”

Bruce hummed and threw a look at the briefcase that contained the still passive Tesseract.

“Are you able to recreate something like the Cube?”, he asked, and Loki shook his head.

“The Tesseract is an artefact much older than I am, and its creation has not been documented. The sorcerers who have crafted it have long since passed away. Perhaps she could tell me what I needed to know to fabricate another one, but her energy levels are still balancing out, and I do not want to experience another volatile outburst. The last one has made me very cautious in the ways how to handle her.”

The god curled his lips up in an impish smile that lit up his eyes as he took in the disappointed faces his fellow scientists sported at that.

“Anyone who would have told me some odd years ago that _you_ of all the races would be capable of recreating it would have had me laughing. As it stands, I have to congratulate you to that very impressive feat.”

“Huh?”, Tony said, and frowned in sync with Bruce and Jane. “We did? Who? And when?”

Snorting, Loki rapped his knuckles against the arc reactor.

“It may look different, and it may not be an actual replica, seeing as you still work on upgrading it all the time, but you have found a base to work towards it.”

It took a few seconds to let that sink in before all three humans exploded in a wide grin, especially Tony looked like Christmas had come early this year.

“You're joking.”, Jane said, while Bruce had Jarvis display Tony's blueprints.

“You should be aware that I usually keep them to myself. Last time someone had access to these files, I had a whole army of suits to fight and destroy and got whipped badly. Don't go and break my trust.”, the engineer said, sobriety in his voice, but smile still intact. Loki rolled his eyes.

“Scaredy-cat. If you could trust me, you sure as hell can trust them. So, are we going to talk science now or what?”

 

 

They had not left the lab for another eight hours before Steve reminded them to eat something. Clint had brought down Àsdís when she would not go to sleep regardless what they had done to achieve the feat, grumbling when Loki hummed a soft tune, cradled and rocked her softly and she was down in under thirty seconds.

“I swear you use magic to do that. No way you are that good.”, he had said and gently reached for her to take her back upstairs.

“I appreciate the critics, monkey.”

“Munchkin.”

“All right, we know it. Good night!”, Tony had shooed him out of the lab.

What followed then was a heated discussion if they could use the Casket to open a portal or something resembling the Bifröst-Travel in the lab or if it would be more wise to relocate that experiment to the outside. Then they argued over where outside, and when, and after that, the debate switched to 'which place to visit first', a seriously amused Loki when the other three pictured the other realms in their fantasy, and forced him to promise to take them somewhere awesome.

“I cannot promise anything as of now. I don't even _know_ how to use it like that.”

“Somewhere epic, Reindeer Games. Promise.”

“I'll see what I can do.”

The ensuing talk about physics and space travel had led them back to the Tesseract, and a resolution.

“Thor will take it back to Asgard. It will soothe the Allfather, after I very rudely informed him of her absence. She rests now, and there is no imminent threat. We have all the informations we need, and Fury would cease his constant whining about the matter.”

“Win-Win for all?”

“Absolutely.”

 

 

“I refuse. You can very well bring the Tesseract back yourself.”

Loki gaped at his brother. Àsdís giggled at how funny he looked from her place in Thor's arms, happily munching on Fenrir.

“But... Brother, please.”

“Your words will not sway me. You want to give it back into Father's hands, then travel to Asgard and do it on your own.”, the big blonde said merrily, carefully bouncing his niece on his lap and looking at his younger sibling with twinkling blue eyes.

“I cannot believe you would do this to me.”, the Trickster exclaimed with a perfectly serious expression of hurt and betrayal, as well as a hint of disbelief. “How can you force me to give up the immunity of death just because I want to give back what technically belongs to Asgard?”

“Oh, I was under the impression this would be a jest to your fancy. Has Mother not told you of your ghost, lingering in the palace, waiting to frighten the maidens? Surely wandering through the halls and terrifying the people would be to your liking.”

Bruce and Tony snorted with laughter, Jane grinned and Loki got the impression she knew already what this was about. A ghost? Since when did any Asgardian believe in ghosts? There never had been such a thing. It was an invention that solely Midgardians believed in.

“Speak clearly, you imbecile.”

“Have care how you speak in front of the little one, Brother.”, Thor grinned, plain in his try to ruse irritation out of the sorcerer.

Loki drew up his eyebrows and frowned. Norns, the oaf had a way to annoy him in no time at all.

“Out with it, and please make sure to use small words so you do not choke on them.”

His husband and the two other geeks guffawed, trying fruitlessly to hide their amusement. He shot them a glare as the God of Thunder lifted his daughter over his head and beamed at her, getting a bright smile back, little hands banging Fenrir against his nose. Settling her on his knee again, his gaze wandered back to Loki.

“One of the librarians saw you when you were searching for books with information on Thanos. He first thought it was some kind of hallucination, but then you were there one more time, and again after that, so he told Father and Mother of it. Of course, both denied your continued existence, what resulted in him to start believing in the Midgardian concept of 'ghosts', as I have told some midgardian tales while visiting.”, he explained, cheerfully nudging Àsdís with the plushy and prompting her to grab for the thing. Loki felt his lips curl up.

“I had already forgotten someone saw me.”

“Well, when you did not appear again after that third time, they shrugged it off. But apparently some of the guards heard you whispering in the halls two weeks ago. It awoke the rumours, making you the first ghost Asgard has seen. So, you, appearing out of nowhere to give back the Tesseract should rouse very interesting reactions.”

Shaking his head, Loki involuntary smiled. When had Thor gotten this mischievous?

“By the Norns, Thor, this is a really tempting image you paint. But as much as I'd like to invoke panic, and this surely would, I do not want to forsake my current status – deceased – because it just is too good. I'm on no-ones watch. Returning would mean to roll everything up again, and really, I do not want that.”

“Then the Tesseract will stay here until you muster up the courage to face what you have left.”

“Is this your attempt of forcing me to mend the relationship with Odin?”

“You know as well as I do that I could never force you to anything you do not want.”

More snickers from the three scientists. He should take some time and dub them something like 'Geeky Three' or 'Lab-rats' – ooh, that one was good. He'd stick with that.

“You are trying your hand on a plot, Thor. Confess.”

His brother just smiled widely at Àsdís and tickled her, before giving Loki a sideways glance.

“Think whatever you want, Trickster. I just repeat: I will not be your errand-boy any longer. Bring it back yourself or let it be.”

Loki grumbled. Damn. Even the next best possibility, giving it to Frigga, would not work out, as she surely would insist he give it to the Allfather personally. Why turned everything out to be so complicated at the moment?

Curse it all to hell and back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so extremely slowly progressing oO But I promise I have action in here - drama, too! Hell, this screams for drama after that whole fluffiness.  
> So, somewhere around when I wrote this (okay, give me two more chapters...) Thor2 hit the cinemas, but I promise to keep the spoilers to an absolute minimum! They won't come for at least some more chapters. And I will warn you proficiently.  
> Of course, there will be a whole different plot happening here, since I already killed off Malekith.  
> ... or have I? *evil cackle*  
> No, seriously, I'll just add some "trivia" that has almost nothing to do with the storyline of The Dark World, and the tiny snippets I have added are explained quite early on in the movie and hold no indication how it all plays out there, as my whole plot is rather far away from anything Marvel could concoct.


	6. A fateful Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki packs up his courage and exposes the little one to the Casket, Christmas and New Years are celebrated, and Thor has a special surprise for his friends two months into the year.  
> The road gets bumpy.

 

 

In late November Loki took Àsdís down in the lab with him, finally relenting and set on finding out how much Jotun his daughter really was.

“Sweet princess, do me the favour and be not like me.”, he whispered, setting her down on the desk where the Casket was placed, kissing her wild locks.

Taking a deep breath, he took one of her hands and gently placed it on the side of the relic, chuckling softly as the girl immediately swatted her other hand onto the thing, too, strangely fascinated.

Nothing happened. Loki exhaled the breath he had held in without being aware of it.

“Thank the Norns.”

Absently minded he let her smack the Casket a bit more, letting her have fun, placing his hand on the lid and closing his eyes while relishing in the thought that she was utterly normal, like he wished to be since he knew of his heritage. More Loki could not want for her.

A second later, he felt a magical signature. His own magic registered fluctuating energy, strangely similar to his own. Looking down, his surprised gaze was met with a toothless grin, blood-red eyes and a child that was blue. He blinked.

“Jarvis, did you get that?”

“Yes, Mr. Stark. Shall I notify Mr. Stark?”

Loki told the AI 'no', before he lifted his hand from the Casket, only then noticing his own colour change. Frowning, he watched as his hand got back its usual pink colour, and he felt the strange energy again. Àsdís went back to a more human skin colour, too, still gazing up at him and slapping the Casket, gurgling with glee. Loki arched his brows.

Intently watching the child, he placed his hand on the lid again, letting the blue crawl up his body, pursing his lips as she also changed colour. When he removed his appendage from the artefact, returning to human appearance, she copied it, his magic finally connecting the energy to her.

A smirk tugged on Loki's lips as he picked her up and let her grip one of his fingers.

“Well, if that is not a very interesting development. We probably should tell your father.”

 

 

Tony stopped dead in his tracks as he entered his living room after a very boring case of board of members meeting. Loki threw a very innocent look in his direction from his place on the floor as he stacked colourful wooden blocks on top of each other, showing Àsdís what one did with them as she threw them across the room.

“Sweet pea, why the hell are you blue? Not that I would mind you getting more comfortable in your admittedly very sexy, if fairly cold other skin.”

Furrowing his brows, he took two more steps into the room and scratched his head.

“Is the banshee actually as blue as you or is this some kind of trick?”

As ever, Àsdís immediately searched for her daddy as soon as she heard his voice and cooed at him with scarlet eyes, and Loki could hear the gears turning in his head.

“You wished for Stitch – there you have it.”, Loki said without any trace of emotion in his voice.

Tony audibly gulped.

“Lokes, seriously, is this bad for you? Is this a problem?”

“In fact, I find it rather amusing.”, the sorcerer said before placing the glamour on his person once more, making sure the infant was aware of his shifting and went to match him once again. Tony gingerly edged closer.

“I would understand if this would disturb you, Rudolph, I really would. Could you... please just explain if this changes anything?”

Chuckling, Loki watched their daughter bang the blocks on the floor.

“She is completely human. More exact, half-human, half-asgardian. I remain being the only Jotun in this family. What I did not anticipate is her ability to shape-shift. Especially not when barely four months old. I have been switching skin colour for over two hours now, and she reacts with me every time. It is strangely fascinating.”

Tony groaned.

“Could you please cease to give me heart attacks every time something strange happens? Gods, I really thought you'd hate her now.”

“I would never be able to hate her. She is not at fault for anything. If she truly was Jotun, it would be mine. As it is, she just inherited some of my abilities. We will have to see to what extend these were passed to her.”

The engineer sat down besides him and poked his side hard.

“Promise me the next time you start experiments with her you'll invite me, too, so I can control your reactions. I seriously do not need any more anxiety over your issues than we already have.”

“Believe it or not, the constant need to shift while working with the Casket has caused a desensitisation of some sort. It actually does not bother me as much as it used to.”

It had also helped a lot that the LabRats were more interested in the Casket than in his skin, and every remark they had made was interested, and without fear or hatred. If one would be granted a look into Loki's best kept and most hidden secret – in fact, being a Frost Giant was kind of cool. Monstrous, yes, but cool.

Pun heavily intended.

 

 

The traditional Christmas Dinner was pretty good. They did not bother with presents any more – really, it was rather straining coming up with interesting things for everyone – save the Secret Santa they did. Of course they all had gotten something for the youngest addition to the group, even if the girl was barely interested in anything besides the crinkling wrapping.

Jane and Tony had created a small album full of photos, picturing Thor, Loki and Àsdís, which one of the gods should carry home to Frigga, as a present from the (already or soon-to-be) in-laws.

“You're here more or less all the time, we figured she would like some photos of you, seeing as Asgard does not come with cameras.”

“Mother will love it.”, the brothers nodded and browsed through the pictures themselves, very interested.

At New Years they were invited to a fundraiser event at the American Museum of National History, gathering money for fine arts all around New York, supporting schools, universities and private institutions. Since Àsdís had been born, usually at least one of them stayed home with her, so taking her with them was a really big deal, especially for the reporters.

“She'll stay human, will she?”, Tony asked quietly as they entered, and Loki grinned.

“Since she normally just shifts when I do, I presume she will keep her usual appearance. If she decides to have a bit of fun, I will notice the energy change soon enough to prevent any visual change.”

When the party got boring as hell, Loki sneaked them into the closed-off part of the Museum, strolling down the vitrines and display cases and whatever he could open without actually tripping an alarm.

Thor chuckled as he remembered their first encounter after his escape. Loki grinned, too.

“Seriously, Thor, having Tony hack my number? How desperate have you been to hear yourself praised?”

“To be honest, everything reminded me of our good times, and as I just had lost you to the dungeons and then to Norns-know-where, I relished in it.”

The sorcerer swallowed. He had not known that. He sighed, a wary smile on his face.

“I cannot express how sorry I am for hurting you.”, Loki said softly, almost too quiet to be heard, but the pat he got on his back told him that he was forgiven.  
“I recall hearing about a mummy. Let us find it.”

 

 

Thor returned from one of his trips to Asgard in February with a wide and beaming grin, clad in full armour and what Loki described to the others as traditional garb at court.

“It's what he wore to the coronation.”

The blond god produced a rolled up parchment with a bright red seal out of his yellow backpack (earning snickers from everyone), before snatching up his niece when she crawled to him, laughing and complimenting her to the feat she had accomplished.

“What is this?”, Steve asked, gingerly picking at the seal.

“An invitation.”, Loki said, familiar with the seal. He frowned. Steve breached the wax, rolled out the thick parchment and pressed it flat to the table so the others could look at it, too.

“'The king of Asgard formally invites you to attend a feast in honour of your ongoing association with our Realm and for being such magnificent shield-brothers and sisters.'”, Natasha read out, arching a brow.

“I always thought the Allfather had a better way with words.”, Loki sneered. “This is what you would have written, Thor.”

He got no response, the older one was completely engrossed with the baby. Loki snorted.

“Well, what do you say? I'm all for Asgard.”, Tony then asked and answered to himself. He got back careful shrugs and nods.

“Big Guy! Consider us ready to leave! Lokes, we need to pack. Chop-chop!”

What?

“The invite did not mention me.” Like hell he would follow one even if his name had appeared on the blasted thing.

“Uh, actually, it says that we can bring along a person each.”, Bruce corrected his assumption, making Tony grin widely.

“Come on, it will be fun.”

“Then take your daughter. Mother will be thrilled to have her over.”

Irritation grew in Loki. Odin knew he was married to Stark, one of Thor's comrades. Why would he express the wish to have them over and extend the invitation to the unwanted criminal? It didn't make sense.

“She's not yet weaned, darling. I cannot take her for longer than a few hours without you. The letter states we are invited to stay over a few days, I think.”

Frowning, he pulled the parchment over and studied it for a second. True, they and a companion were invited, for a feast befitting the king of Asgard, he would assume. That could easily take up a week, so that statement was true, too. Creasing his face, he leaned back, closed his eyes and went through a myriad of possibilities why Odin would do something like giving Loki an excuse to enter the palace, under his protection, nonetheless. Bringing one hand to his forehead to rub soothing circles on it, the god placed the other one on the invite and searched for hidden messages or traps with his magic, but came out with nothing.

“Have you finished your paranoid thinking? I promise this invitation is no scheme from Father.”

After five more seconds, Loki opened his eyes and craned his neck so he could see the merry face of his brother, and even if it was childish at best and had his friends in a laughing fit, sticking out his tongue at the oaf did feel absolutely amazing.

“Just making sure. I will attend under the condition that my identity won't be revealed. You will make sure no one's going to link Solveig and Loki. No endearments. No cuddling. Absolutely no calling me brother or sister. Àsdís is not your niece in the usual sense. Do I make myself clear?”

Thor smiled.

“I understand. Rest assured that I will see you safe.”

Ugh. Loki was positive he would regret consenting to this absolutely mad trip.

...but he could not deny the engineer his fun, could he? And being alone for a whole week, even with his daughter? No way.

He sighed miserable as Tony kissed him on the head enthusiastically, before skidding in direction of their private quarters to start packing. He groaned, involuntarily amused, when his husband came back and asked if he could be persuaded to magic one of his suits into Asgardian armour, just to freak out the Allfather.

Thor roared with laughter, and gave his word that a set of traditional Asgardian garb would be provided for all of them.

 

 

Pepper arrived half an hour later, a small bag in her hand, stating that the Members Board had to deal with their absence on short notice. They would survive. This was a matter of interstellar peace.

They were ready to go in less than sixty minutes, and Tony offered his Landing Pad to call the Bifröst. When the Avengers, Pepper, Jane, female-Loki and Àsdís were huddled together so that no one would fall down, Thor gazed up into the sky, raised his hammer and called for Heimdall.

Upon arriving at the Bifröst, Tony, Clint and Pepper staggered with sudden vertigo, Bruce sat down and went into soft meditation as Hulk was less than impressed with this sort of travel, and Steve, as well as Natasha, held themselves truly marvellous in balance. Loki chuckled.

“Heimdall. Are the horses ready?”, Thor asked, beaming.

The gatekeeper watched the group, before his amber eyes settled on the sorceress.

“Your actions are displayed through your associates. You are observable, and I will have my eyes on you.”

“As you ever had, if you were able to. Does it hurt, still being unable to keep your eyes on me? To have to rely on some humans just so you may guess what I will do next?”, Loki sneered, returning the look with eyes as hard as the ice she was born to.

There truly was no love lost between them. She broke the staring contest a few seconds later, adjusting Àsdís' place on her hip and walked past her brother to the steed she had claimed for herself some decades ago, swinging her body up without effort, while still carrying her daughter.

“May we go on, now? I am sure this visit was not intended to end here, and so soon.”

 

 

When they finally arrived in the heart of the city, Loki's stomach was roiling and twisting under thousands of different ways this could go wrong for her. Even if her female form was not openly known, she still looked like _Loki_ , same black hair, same green eyes. Not to mention her damned tongue. She cursed herself for giving in. The tension in her shoulders was almost cramping. As they rode into the royal stables, she willed her muscles to relax, and gave a crooked smile as her horse butted its nose in her stomach as the mare always did when dismounted.

“I am sorry I had to leave you all alone here with these morons, Ranka.”, she whispered, and the horse flicked its ears in response.

Stable boys stepped forward and took the horses back to their boxes, and Thor led them into the palace. While Jane and Tony had been here before, chatting lightly about the different architecture and tech, the others were seemingly overwhelmed by the beauty and brightness the capital of the Realm Eternal emitted. Loki saw how Steve's eyes flew from one point to another, fingers already twitching and definitely wishing for some time to sit down and sketch.

The tension returned tenfold, once Loki recognized the way Thor pursued. Some servants had taken their bags in one of the hallways, surely bringing them into guest chambers, while the group was guided to the great hall in which the throne was located. Hliðskjálf, where she herself had sat before. Thor hopefully would suit it better.

Probably sensing her unease, Tony placed a hand on the small of her back and bumped his hip gently against hers, winking and grinning.

“It's gonna be fine, sweet pea.”

Oh Norns, she hoped it would be.

Loki's heart started beating wildly as the great double doors were opened before them, memories of good and bad days, of times enjoyed, of hurt and betrayal flashing before her eyes. Taking a deep breath, while remaining calm and intrigued on the outside, she walked besides Pepper, who looked around her with wide eyes.

This was not about the traitorous Prince. This was about Thor. And that Loki was absolutely fine with.

Murmurs were heard, as the Court and hundreds of interested citizens whispered with each other about the strange Midgardians their Prince brought with them. The sorceress looked up and frowned slightly as she spotted the throne – without the Allfather.

That was odd.

Her mother stood on her usual place, halfway up the dais, the right hand of the throne, whereas on the other side Thor's friends were waiting, smiling and proudly waiting for him to take his place besides the Queen.

The frown deepened when her brother kissed Jane's knuckles, led her to his mother's side (both entangling in a soft hug), ascended to the throne before setting down Mjölnir to his right side, and was handed Gungnir instead.

Her eyes widened.

Oh.

The frown melted into a deeply satisfied grin.

“Not to appear rude, but... where's the All-Daddy?”, Tony asked in a hushed whisper. “I thought Thor wasn't on king-duty for the next decade or more.”

Loki snorted and softly nudged him to bow his knees and sink down in the expected position when before the king of Asgard, prompting their friends to do the same.

“He's sleeping. I'll explain later.”

“It is a joyful occurrence for all of us, that we are united today here in Asgard.”, Thor began when he had calmed down his subjects.

Loki almost snorted. It was hilarious how tiny Gungnir looked in Thor's big hands.

“I have wanted to show you my home for a very long time now, and I am happy that this time finally comes. I present to the Court Midgard's finest warriors, my trusted shield-brothers and sister, as well as Lady Potts, Lady Stark, and the little Lady Stark.”, the Thunderer said with a wide smile and merry eyes. Àsdís giggled as she heard his voice, beaming up to him and flailing her arms towards her uncle. Loki hushed her softly, before anyone would make a connection. Motioning for them to stand up, Thor sat down on the throne, wincing slightly as the true powers of being king engulfed him again. Loki empathized.

“Feel welcomed in our Realm, my friends.”

Ever the leader, Steve answered with an awkward “Thank you for your invitation.”, and Loki, standing right behind him, grinned, hissed a “Your Highness” for good measure, and the Captain parroted her words, what made Thor roar with booming laughter.

“There is no need for such titles, my friend. I remain Thor for you, as I have always.”

What then followed was the part Loki hated because of its ridiculous imbecility. Her brother went on and on about the prowess and braveness of the Avengers, told one or two short stories about them and did everything in his might to give the best impression of Asgard back to them.

Loki let her gaze wander, smiled at Frigga as their gazes met and kissed Àsdís' head softly. When she looked at her brothers friends, she kept an unconcerned and indifferent mask on her face as Sif frowned at her and constricted her eyes until she virtually stared at the Trickster, understanding blossoming on her face. She straightened and jerked her head to Thor almost imperceptible, shooting Loki a glance full of hatred and the promise of not letting the god out of her sight for the rest of the ordeal.

Curse it all to hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks! 'M back :D  
> Give me two more chapters, and you'll want my head on a spike. Perhaps. If I've written as good as I hope to have written.  
> Chapter-length will vary a bit, because I'm the worst at thinking how to properly part my stories. There will be shorter and longer parts equally, I hope.
> 
> I love you all for your feedback!! You're the best! Thanks for all the Kudos and bookmarks, too!


	7. Idiots, all of them!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, Sif knows Loki's in Asgard - what now?  
> Will it even matter with the ensuing threat?

 

 

Of course Sif would recognize her. Inwardly groaning, the sorceress raised a single eyebrow in a mocking gesture, smile tugging at her lips as the warrior gnashed her teeth and balled her hands into fists, cheeks tinted in a soft pink of pure anger.

“What's up with Xena, Sol? Some sort of injured pride or so?”

Loki grinned.

“Something like that.”

They had shared a brief but intense friendship when Sif first came to the palace. She was alone, knowing nobody, and needed to prove herself. Loki had been the same, and it drew them together like magnets. Thirty years it lasted, before Sif chose to be one of Thor's sidekicks, abandoning her for the older one, cutting her off without looking back.

(Loki had done her best to remain impassive and prank her to hell and back afterwards.)

Of course by then the warrior had learned a lot of Loki's secrets and abilities, including the little shapeshifting-trick from male to female and back.

Well. That would be awkward later on.

“When we first met five years ago”, Thor went on and on, and seriously, did he ever just stop? “we fought against my brother, who has not been himself after his fall from the Rainbow Bridge. He suffered, first under a threat far greater than we ever imagined, and then from our own hands.”

Sif tore her eyes away from Loki, shooting her king a disbelieving look. The Trickster did the same, but met blue, honest eyes, and a smile from her brother.

“Five years would have been enough time to prove his return to us, and his sane mind. As of now, would Loki still live, all would be forgiven.”

No one dared to speak. Even the Court was silent. Thor leaned forward, casting glances into the crowds, grinning.

“Have I shocked you? Why, because the love for my brother still runs deeper than you imagined?”

Of course, Volstagg made a wide gesture with his hands and turned to the blonde.

“My king, you must excuse us, but... Loki was not exactly the most... honourable person.”

Nicely said, Dumpling.

“Well of course not. He was the only one who could outsmart even a whole realm. Honesty from his lips would have never made it into our ears, we would have always assumed a plot.”, the king said, and that did the trick. The halls were roaring with chatter, and Loki could not decide whether to be proud that Thor had actually the gall to call Asgard and its inhabitants _dumb_ , and that confusingly subtle, or to be seriously annoyed due to the point that he still tried to get her back into the palace.

“I want you all to know that I have learned a great many things while living on Midgard, and one of these things is that Loki was never truly evil. He was mislead, perhaps, and in the end, broken. We were as much at fault as he was, but he still came back despite knowing getting caught would be his death, to help us against the Dark Elves. Father never said anything about it since we had to send off his body, so I will do it.”

Damn him thrice for rolling that up again.

...on the other hand, Sif looked delightfully furious, almost outright hostile.

“Interestingly enough, even as Asgard as a whole wronged my brother, he never wronged you. He took out his anger on me alone. He looked out for our Realm far better than I have done, and still was resented when Mother herself bid him to take the Allfather's place during my punishment. I am in deep sorrow that he never was seen for the man he truly was.”

Loki frowned. Now, it really was enough. Making an angry, but small, gesture at Thor, trying to get her point across that he should stop already with all the sentimentality, she shook her head softly, making the king sigh.

“Think about my words. It would do us good to learn about a man before condemning him.”

Thereby ending the inauguration, he descended the chairs, followed by Frigga, Jane and his friends, before he more or less shooed them out into the adjoining private quarters.

Once the doors were closed, Thor gave Gungnir back to the Queen.

Àsdís cooed happily as she recognized her grandmother and wriggled in Loki's arms, stretching out her small fingers to demand a switch of carrier right know, and knowing her daughter, the Trickster groaned and handed her over to the beaming Frigga.

A second later she was pressed to the floor by one of Sif's knees.

Oh, Loki had anticipated some kind of attack as soon as the child was out of any immediate danger. She had expected a knife pressed to her neck, one hairbreadth away from drawing blood, or, more dangerous, the bladed staff pointed somewhere deadly, but the god had not thought to be brought down by bare hands.

“Is this your way to repay your debt to me for saving your life?”, she laughed out breathlessly, smirking and with eyes full of revulsion. The Avengers were already drawing their weapons (as far as they had brought any), and Thor yelled something.

“How deep honour really flows in you, Lady Sif.”

“You will not spill any more lies, Traitor.”, she hissed, yanking Loki's arm behind her back and turned to the Thunderer.

“Forgive me, my king, for not speaking up sooner.”

Thankfully, Thor knew exactly how painful this could become if he would just pull the woman back from Loki. There would be bones broken, probably, and shoulders popped, seeing how twisted her arm was held, so he approached his long-timed friend with raised hands and words.

“Let her go, Sif. She is not a threat.”

The warrior grunted at that, grinding her knee in Loki's back even further, what had the sorceress huff out in pain and a chuckle.

“She is _Loki_.”, Sif said, urgently and beseeching. “Thor, he has fooled us all, and you the most! Playing dead like a rat and coming back here, for what? _Why are you here_?”, she sneered, and Loki breathed out another chuckle. Tony took two steps in their direction, but was cut off as Hogun stepped in his way.

“You are hurting my wife, and that is so seriously not okay with me.”, he ground out, utterly unimpressed.

“Your wife”, Hogun spat, “is a traitor.”

Loki rolled her eyes. That again.

“If I recall correctly, _you_ , dearest Dorky Four, are the traitors. Weren't you the ones who committed treason to your king?”

The Trickster would have laughed again just for that look in Hogun's eyes as he understood what Tony had implicated, but Sif was distracted by this, too, and her grip loosened enough so Loki could wriggle free and pin her to the floor.

“I will forgive you this once for your ongoing treacherous ways with me if you refrain from attacking me again as long as we are here under the personal invitation of the _damned king of Asgard_.”, the green eyed woman hissed, before standing up again and rolling her shoulder.

It was strangely satisfying to see how worked up her brother's friends were at that moment. Sheer disbelief mixed with incomprehension as they looked at Thor with the silent request to explain. The big blonde sighed with a frown.

“You will speak to no one about this. Loki means no threat, neither to Asgard nor me. She is here because I asked her to come, foolishly assuming that after so much time there would be more forgiveness between you. As loath as I am to admit it, her fears of returning here have been true. I trusted you, my friends, to at least think before acting.”

As usual, Sif opened her mouth and took a step towards Thor, just to be held back by Fandral.

“Thor, are you out of your mind? This is not your brother any more, not after all he did to you. To us!”, the 'Dashing' exclaimed, disbelief in his voice. Loki and Frigga both straightened and fixated him with a poisonous glare.

“Have care how you speak to your king.”, they said in unison, prompting Thor to grin widely.

“Fandral, truly, after all I have told you? Have I not spoken to you about our own wrongs, our own faults? Have the words I uttered ten minutes ago not reached your ears? If not, I am weary of your trust in me – and consequently your trust in me as future king. Perhaps it was unwise to place my trust in you.”

Oh, this was glorious. To see Thor put his best friends in their place was truly magnificent to watch. How lost they looked without the support of their finest warrior. Loki smirked. Maybe coming here had not been a mistake after all.

“Now come on, do not be so hard at them. They did what they thought right. It's not as if there was any reason to believe you knew it was me.”

The incredulous looks they gave her as she actually advocated them were truly marvellous.

“We have lived under the same roof for over a millennium now, and I have you know that I doubted your identity as soon as the first wave of grief was over.”

“Oh, that soon? How often had we crossed paths until then? Twenty, thirty times?”, Loki teased.

“Watch your words carefully, Trickster.”

“Or what, _my king_?”

Oh, that really grew on Loki. She sighed with a smile, before clearing her throat.

“Fun as this is, Thor, I had hoped we could visit the weaponry.”

The collective “NO!”, from the Dorky Four – oh Norns, Tony had found the perfect name for them – was met with an inquisitive stare from the big blonde, which said 'This is my, and my decision alone. Deal with it.'

“You have brought the Tesseract, I presume?”

Another surprised inhale from the warriors accompanied the complicated move Loki's hands did when she called the Cube to her – safely stored in her case.

“The timing could have not been better. She will rest here, until I have need of her, should that ever arise. And, as some kind of precaution, I will place a spell on her which will alert you personally if anything should be wrong with the Cube. I will anchor the magic to Mjölnir, that way it can't be tampered with.”

Thor nodded solemnly, before anew a smile broke out in his face.

“Well, all is settled. Let us go.”

 

 

The stares that burned into Loki's neck had her smirking. Truly, her brother's friends were nothing if not utterly cautious around people they deemed a threat. Tony walked at her side, glancing back once in a while.

“You have a great deal of enemies, Reindeer Games.”

“As have you, darling.” - Sif hissed, a much enjoyed sound for Loki - “It is the fate of those gifted with intelligence and a thinking mind.”

The Avengers, Jane and Pepper tried to stifle a chuckle, while the Dorky Four growled. Thor raised an eyebrow.

“Are you mocking me again?”

Loki trained wide, innocent eyes on her brother, mirth in her eyes, right hand over her heart.

“Brother, I would _never_. I am hurt.”

“Why does he feel mocked when you say something like that?”, Steve asked, slight grin on his lips. The sorceress shrugged.

“Thor has no enemies of his own. When someone is after his hide, it's usually about the Throne or Asgard or some greater good. My enemies loath me for myself. Hence his fear of me calling him dumb. Again.”, she chuckled.

A second later, Tony's head turned from right to left, eyes scanning his surroundings.

“Hey, I've been here before.”

Surprised inhaling behind them. Loki grinned. That never seemed to grow old.

“Well yes, of course. We came this way when we took the banshee to Mother.”

Understanding lit up in brown eyes, and Thor laughed.

“So the ominous voice the guards heard were you?”

Merrily nodding, Loki pressed a finger to her lips.

“And now, we return to being friends at most. Too many ears.”

The next corner brought them to the entrance of the Vault, and the guards did not even glance at the troop before letting them pass.

Once inside, the brothers motioned their friends to stand back, while taking long steps in the Chamber.

“Place Mjölnir here. Please behave.”

It was a matter of mere seconds. The Tesseract, faintly lit with its own power, was placed in a column, and Loki placed her hands above both artefacts, before a sharp, green light engulfed them.

“When there is danger, you will know.”, she said, and Thor clasped his hands on her shoulders in gratitude.

“Then come on, I will show you to your chambers. Mother is waiting for you.”

More out of habit than interest, Loki let her eyes wander as they made their way back to the stairs. Of course, the Casket of Ancient Winters was no longer there, it now heeding the call of her alone. Whenever she had come to the Vault, with Odin and Thor, or by herself, she had made sure that all was where it should be.

She walked past the Warlock's Eye, Thor's stolen relic, the Eternal Flame (Loki had burned with desire to get her hands on this – Fire was her catnip), the Table of Life and Time (which would have served her interest in prolonging Tony's life, and she would have made sure to get the Formula out of it), the Orb of Agamotto, and finally, the Infinity Gauntlet.

Loki stopped dead in her tracks.

By Yggdrasil.

“Thor.”

He turned, and his steps faltered as he saw the pale shade her face had taken on.

With a soft push of her magic, the Gauntlet shattered into a myriad of golden specks, vanishing before her eyes. A heavy feeling settled in her heart.

“Thor, where is the Infinity Gauntlet?”

“What do you mean?”, Thor asked, voice grave and serious. Loki pointed to the convexity where the artefact had been stored for centuries.

“When did the Allfather come here the last time?”

He should have realized. The illusion had been close, but not nearly close enough to fool the king.

She closed her eyes and too a deep breath, just as her brother answered.

“It has been quite a while. I believe he was here last shortly before we fought Thanos.”

Of course.

Rage bubbled up in Loki. How in the Nine Realms should they get out of this mess? She shifted back to the male form, already tracing back the energy of magic to find out how long exactly the Gauntlet was gone.

“Has no one in this damned palace thought about _controlling_ if all that should be here in fact _is_ here? Thor, please do not tell me you all just assumed that everything was well.”, he hissed, holding on to the faint signature bound to the place where the illusion had sat.

“The Vault has been sealed off after Thanos stole the Tesseract. Nothing was amiss, and the alarms were not triggered.”

Curse it all to hell and back.

“You do realize that the alarm spells seem to kind of... malfunction? If I had not told Odin that the Cube was not longer in here, he never would have known.”

“You dare to accuse the Allfather of blindness?”, Sif spluttered out, enraged beyond words. Thor shot her a wary look, Loki noticed. Good.

The energy slipped away. That was bad. Who had obtained the gauntlet? Why?

“He is right, Sif. Father did not know. Loki was the one to tell him.”

Loki's head snapped up as he felt the magic wander off to the Tesseract. His eyes widened.

“Of course.”, he whispered, scooting over and trying to get a hold on the source of the strange energy.

In the background, he heard Thor and his warriors arguing. The humans asked what exactly went on, and his brother did his best to explain. The Cube sucked in the energy, and awakened in a flash of pure, blue light.

Five seconds later, he had his answer, the energy giving so much more information to the Tesseract, and it was so much worse than he had anticipated. He shut the Cube down again, and, disrupting the quarrel, he grabbed Thor by the arm to get his attention.

“What happened to the items of my rooms?”

The older god blinked in confusion.

“Nothing. All is where you have left it.”

That perplexed Loki. Thor chuckled softly.  
“Your chambers were not altered. Mother would hear nothing of it. She insisted you would come back one day, and you would need your rooms.”

The heavy feeling in the Trickster's chest eased a bit.

“Thank the Norns for small favours.”, he said, and then, more urgent, “Find Eir and get her to the Allfather. The illusion was a leech, and it feasted on his energy. This Odinsleep could very well be one out of his usual circle. Make sure he is well. I'll come as soon as I can.”

“We will not allow you to enter the rooms.”, Fandral said, making Loki sneer.

“And who do you think you are to stop me?”

Weapons were drawn, and the sorcerer rolled his eyes as they attacked.

“You never learned to recognize my tricks.”, he mocked as they stumbled through the illusion, appearing behind them.

“Stay out of my way. I will not hesitate and kill you if the need arises. Thor, get to it. Now.”

Ushering the Avengers out on the stairs, he squeezed Tony's hand and pressed a kiss to its back. The engineer frowned.

“That bad?”

Loki nodded.

“The Infinity Gauntlet is one of the mightiest weapons one can imagine. It is incomplete, though, and therefore has not its full power. Thanos once sought out to find the stones necessary to unleash its whole power, but was stopped before he could find the last one. I have a pretty good idea who has stolen the gauntlet, and why.”

“Lemme guess. Total Destruction?”

“As always.”

 

 

It was hilarious despite the urgent matter when Loki stalked through the castle, his friends behind him. The guards yelled at him to stop, not entirely sure what they should do, as he was dead, per se, and their king (that meant Thor) had practically pardoned him. He ignored them all until he was in front of his chambers once more, an entire entourage of guards on his heels, weapons drawn.

Rolling his eyes, he pushed open the doors, making a beeline for the chest hidden behind a loose plank of wood in his wardrobe. Relieve flooded him as he found nothing missing.

The Avengers peered into the room, not quite sure if they were allowed to enter or if Loki would grill them alive, the guards behind them, waiting for some kind of input.

Only then did Loki realize that he subconsciously had summoned his full regal armour, sans helmet.

Well.

“Come in already and close the doors. I will have privacy.”

Shuffling and scurrying, the humans entered and did what Loki had requested, under loud protest from the guards. Once the heavy wooden doors were shut, they looked at him with curious eyes.

The sorcerer showed them the small chest, fine and delicate carvings littering its sides and lid.

“I will explain when Thor and Mother are with us. They need to know, and I need to see the Allfather. The Infinity Gauntlet has been missing from Asgard for almost as long as I have lived with you. If my instincts prove to be true, there will be war again.”

In the following silence, they heard footsteps on the outside of Loki's chambers. A voice the god recognized as one of Odin's Einherjers demanded he come out willingly, or they would force their way into the rooms.

Growling, Loki waved a hand and the chest vanished, before snapping his fingers and opening the doors.

“I fear for Asgard and the other eight Realms if this is how well you listen to your king.”, he sneered. The Einherjer trained his weapon on him, earning a mild chuckle.

“How well would Thor receive the message of his words dying away as he speaks them? Have you not heard? _Would Loki still live, all would be forgiven._ Now get out of my sight and put away the spears before I do something you would regret dearly.”, he hissed. Clearly in dispute, the men looked at each other, before they finally made way, still watching the former prince intently.

Loki straightened and looked back into his rooms.  
“Come on. Time is of essence.”

With a glare, he stared down one of the guards who shrunk in confusion.

“Give word to the Queen. She will be awaited in the Allfather's rooms. _Now_.”, he added as the pathetic boy did not do as he asked the moment the words had left his mouth.

By Yggdrasil. Had it been like this some years before? How in the Realms had Asgard kept its position as mightiest World?, Loki thought as the guard staggered off.

“Err, Lokes, I don't think they will let us go as easily.”, Tony said, unimpressed as he snatched a glance at the swords still trained on them. The Trickster growled.

“You will heed the words of your Prince at once. If I find you pointing another weapon at your king's and prince's comrades, I will be very creative in my answering action.”, he snarled. Of course he would be able to make his way through them, but this was a matter of respect. If his titles truly were his to claim once more, Loki would make damn sure every single person in this nornsforsaken realm was aware of the fact.

It took some seconds, but the guards did what he wanted. A mildly satisfying reaction, as there still was insecurity in the men, but it would suffice.

Stepping out, he led his friends to Odin's chambers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oi folks, it's getting hotter. There will be action! No slow build any more, it's hard and dangerous as of now.
> 
> Oh, and just to warn you - the next chapter will be a lot shorter than the last ones, for cliffhangery reasons - fits much better. But I will post the following chapter sooner to make it up to you.


	8. Infinity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now the party has started. What ails the Allfather? Can Loki help?  
> ... WILL Loki help?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soft Spoilers for Thor2! Nothing major, just some added facts about a weapon the Elves sought out (revealed in the After-credits), but seeing as this is very divergent from the movie, it's more background information.

 

 

“What happened?”, Frigga asked, worried and concerned as she handed Àsdís to Tony. Loki pushed open the thick doors that should protect the Allfather when he was at his weakest, finding Thor and the Dorky Four already there, with Eir. Stepping inside, he already knew what awaited them.

“The Allfather is very weak.”, the healer stated and frowned as she became aware who had entered.

Frigga gathered her skirts and rushed down to her husband, fear in her eyes.

“What does that mean? He was fine when he succumbed to the Odinsleep, and has chosen to rest this time around. We were prepared.”

Eir looked at her with a troubled expression, choosing to ignore the returned dead Prince in favour of the Allfather.

“It may very well be that he will not awaken again. His energy fades as we speak.”

Damn. Odin's death would bring chaos upon the realms.

...and it would break Frigga's heart, as well as Thor's. Cursing under his breath, Loki made his way to the bed, sharply reminded that the last two times he had been here, he had been made king, killed the Frost Giant that had fathered him, and had attacked his brother. Well, he surely hoped this time there would be no need to attack anyone.

Shuddering, he sat down on the Allfather's right side, one hand reaching out to take hold of the frail one lying limp on the bed. Before he could touch it, though, a blade pressed to his neck, making him grin, teeth bared.

“I assure you, Sif, there is no need for that.”

“There is no trust left in me for you.”

Laughing out loud, Loki pushed away the dagger with a careful motion. No trust. How ironic.

“The feeling's quite mutual. As it stands, someone needs to see to the Allfather, or Thor will have to make a permanent reign out of this brief ruling. If I am hindered, I wish you the best of luck to find another sorcerer who can counter Elven magic.”

Leaning back and entwining his fingers behind his head, Loki stared up at her with a clear challenge in his eyes. And he saw how badly she quarrelled with herself over the matter. Delightful.

When she finally took a step back, lowering her blade, it was because of the soft call Frigga and Thor had made.

“Sif, please.”, they had whispered. The warrior had relented, grudgingly, but nonetheless backing away.

“If you do anything at all that hurts the Allfather, I will kill you.”, she hissed, and the sorcerer smirked at her in the most malicious way he could muster.

“Just shut up and let me do my work.”

Thor pulled her away after that, clearly distressed. Frigga had clutched Odin's other hand to her chest, looking at him with tears in the eyes, what gave Loki the motivation to do his best.

He did not even want to know how she felt. If this would be Tony...

Loki swallowed heavily, placing his hand finally over the cold fingers of the man that had rescued him from the Ice. His magic picked up the energy of another signature almost immediately and echoed in him like a warning, making his skin crawl and his hairs stand up. He closed his eyes, touched the temple of the sleeping man in front of him with a single digit and tried to place the energy that percolated through their bodies. Whose magic was it? And what was the reason for the slow fading the Allfather was exposed to? Surely the leeching illusion could not be the sole reason for the death of one as mighty as the man ruling Nine Realms.

Deep under the buzzing energy that filled Odin, there lay buried his true magic. It was weak, faint, barely clinging to the body, sucked dry by the spell that had nourished the image in the weapons vault. Loki furrowed his brows as he tried to spark the soft flicker of energy with his own magic, trying to have him hold on a little longer.

When he opened his eyes again, his head hurt like Mjölnir had clashed with it another time and he lay on the floor some feet away from the bed. Tony was already hurrying down to him, Àsdís blaring and screeching, Frigga and Thor looked at him like they had seen a ghost.

The last wisp of black and red energy dissipated over Odin, and Loki broke out it manic laughter.

“Oh now you have really gone and done it, Allfather. How in all the Nine Realms have you found it?”, he whispered as he sat up again, calming his husband and soothing his child.

“What has happened?”, Thor asked in a grave voice as he rounded the bed and helped him up. The black haired god smirked as he resumed his place on the side of Odin, adrenaline pumping through his system.

“Malekith was after one of the Infinity Stones. Odin once told us of the war with the Elves Bor fought, and what power they wanted to unleash. It is called Aether, and it will grant its user unlimited power, more than even the Tesseract can produce. Just to be clear on the basics. When they attacked five years ago, it was for the Gauntlet – and this.”, Loki said, summoning the small chest from his room and opening it. He retrieved a green hexagon, dull and dark, and a delicate silver chain was wrapped around it.

“This is the Soul Stone. Merged into the Gauntlet, and united with the other Stones, there will be a power unleashed that will destroy the universe if in the wrong hands.”

Thor made a motion as if to touch it, but Loki placed it back and vanished the chest before his hand was high enough.

“Never touch a Stone, Thor. It would break your mind. It almost broke mine. Perhaps it has, and that was why I could not think any more after...”

He stopped and shook his head as if to get out the thought.

“Irrelevant as of now. The chain protects me, and me alone, from its powers. If you ever stumble about another Stone, turn and leave as soon as you can.”

Looking over the still form of his foster-father, Loki sighed.

“The Aether is the Power Stone. While all of our records state that the Aether was destroyed in the aftermath of the battle Bor fought, the truth was hidden. The Aether was stored away, buried under mountains, to be never found again. Somehow, Odin has stumbled over it, and has probably been touched by it. The power is too much for him to handle, and that is why he is dying.”

A choked sob escaped the Queen as she grasped the hand tighter to her chest. Mjölnir's leather handle creaked with the grip Thor had on it.

“We need to get the Aether out of him. Unfortunately, there is nothing written on how to do that.”, he mumbled, laying his hand anew on the cold one of Odin.

The raw energy was humming through the old body, racing to find an outlet, searching for a way to unleash its power.

Loki groaned. There was but one way to part the Power Stone from the Allfather.

Eir gasped out a surprised sound as she noticed the rapidly failing signals of the Allfather.

By the Norns and the Nine Worlds, why could never anything be easy?

The Trickster let his eyes wander. The only people who could be of use were here, and he had to make a decision rather quickly, seeing as the man lying before him was almost out of time.

Thor? No. The Aether would never accept being shared with something like Mjölnir. They would clash and destroy his brother.

Frigga... as strong as she was, for the Aether, she was much too frail. She would be dead before he would have found a more permanent solution. One of his brothers friends? The Dorky Four? Loki almost snorted. They were fickle in their hearts, doing only what they believed was right, and with that power entrapped in one of them there could be hell to pay. Probably he would be the one to suffer, and that was out of the question.

That left the Avengers. Bruce and Clint were out. Bruce and Hulk were much too hazardous, and the archer was still fighting with his memories the Tesseract and Loki had forced upon him. Natasha could have the mental stability, but she was a mystery to all of them and had betrayed friends and lovers for much less. As much as he liked her, this was a weapon so powerful it could change her.

Steve? Well, he would be a fine choice. Enhanced human being, strong, young, fierce in his believe. But even now, after years of fights, war, death, he still was so young. He followed much too easily.

Damn. That left Tony.

Never. Their daughter depended on him. She was much too precious to risk anything. She needed protection.

As Loki still pondered about what to do, the decision was made for him.

The soft breathing of the Allfather stopped, and his magic died out under Loki's fingers. Green eyes widened in surprise. Dread rose in his heart, and while Eir raced around and did whatever she could to restart the flame of life in Odin, Frigga sobbed and cried silent tears. It broke Loki's heart.

Thor let go of Mjölnir, the heavy clank it produced echoing in the hall like a knell.

Time slowed down as the Trickster gripped the hand of the Allfather a tad more tightly, as he had done after they fought about his parentage. After witnessing how frail he could be in a matter of seconds, how that strength left him and forced him to rest, making him vulnerable and small.

Loki's heart ached. Despite all his claims, there was no World he could think of without the Allfather. He had been there _forever_ , and now he should be gone? His father? The one who had taught him how to ride, how to forge knives, how to map out a strategy?

No. He would not let that happen.

But as soon as he opened his mouth, there was pain. Loki struggled to keep quiet, sensing the Aether switching to the only body in the room it deemed worthy. His own.

_It will kill me._

It burned its way through his body, connecting to his magic, to his Jotun-heritage, humming and buzzing in excitement as it found the perfect host.

When his ears worked again, the last faint echo of Mjölnir's impact faded out, and Loki felt dead and alive at the same time. He blinked once, trying to focus once more, and then the seconds rushed away again as reality came crashing down on him. Sounds filled the room, crying, shouting, yells followed by footsteps, murmurs and whispers, Àsdís was whining again.

Loki tuned it out almost immediately. He leaned back into the seat and closed his eyes.

“My Lady. We are in need of your help.”, he said, almost too low to be heard. A chuckle answered him.

“A very gracious gift, little Prince.”, the soft, dark voice told him, and he felt the warm smile the entity graced him with. “You will have to help it along.”

“Of course.”

Opening his eyes, he could see a myriad of soft, sparkling lights, flitting through the room. He raised and waved his hand softly, not aware of the concerned stares he awoke in his friends, calling the light to himself and gently pushing it back to the body it belonged to.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the old magic Loki knew so well, the terrific might the Allfather possessed returned, taking away his breath and air, choking him, and before he could make sure Lady Death had held her promise, he collapsed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this is shorter than the rest, but I would have to cut the following chapter at a very strange point, so this time shorter, next time longer or earlier. Deal?  
> So I've gone and done it - who's seen Thor2 knows what happens when the Aether claims a body. How will it change Loki?


	9. Of sons and Fathers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new host for the Aether - what does that mean for Loki? And by default, for Tony and Àsdìs?

 

 

His nerves were on fire. Everything was hot, almost too hot, burning away under his skin and itching unpleasantly. The heat clashed with his heritage, and while molten lava seemed to have been stuffed down his throat, icy tendrils crawled over his back, making Loki feel alien in his own body.

Someone held his hand. The fingers were warm, but comfortably so, gently stroking his own digits, and the sorcerer relaxed a bit. Tony was here. He would chase away that bothersome feeling in his flesh.

He sighed and slowly opened his eyes.

Oh, look. That was the ceiling of his chambers in the palace. Nice. He had missed his rooms.

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty.”, his husband said, worried brown eyes looking down on him. Loki smiled.

“Hi.”

Wait. If he was in his rooms, then he was in the palace, and that implicated that at least Thor knew they were here, and why had he slept in the first place? Furrowing his brows, he craned his neck, recognizing his brother and Mother.

And the Allfather.

All came crashing back to him. Sitting up as fast as he did had probably been a very dumb idea, but he forced away the dizziness and the black dots dancing in front of his eyes and now everything made perfect sense.

The Aether. Death. Odin.

Loki groaned and pressed his hands to his temples.

“By Yggdrasil, is there ever a time when I get not involved in things I rather kept away from?”, he growled, and his anger made the Aether flare up briefly and happily. Great.

Giving the Allfather a dirty look, he received one in return, and reeled back. Oh, there was anger as well, and hatred, but underneath, was that... concern? Worry?

Loki gulped. That could be bad. If Odin thought he would misuse this force, there was no way he would let him go again. He would be forced back into the cell for the rest of however long he would live, what would be not very long, he estimated, but definitely long enough.

The old man rounded the bed and balled his hands, fury in his eye.

Huh, look at that. The two one-eyed ones surely were alike, his dry sense of black humour piped in.

“What were you thinking, you utterly foolish boy?”, he hissed out, and Norns, if that did not make Loki feel like he was twelve again and had almost burned down the palace. He shrunk back before he could even think of sliding on the neutral mask (etched with loathing) he had perfected when dealing with the Allfather.

...he had to be quite out of it. Usually, nothing like that would prompt such a reaction. He blinked.

Frigga laid one hand on a trembling arm of her husband, shaking her head so soft Loki almost did not see it. Norns, what would happen now? Odin took a small step away, sighing and slumping down on another chair at his bedside. He looked as old as he had that fateful day in the Vault. Older, probably. Worn out, tired, and sick of it all. Interestingly, Loki felt much the same.

“How long was I out?”, he asked in a low voice, shooting Tony a look.

“A bit more than one hour. Are you okay?”

The god nodded, briefly closing his eyes at the blatant lie. He did not want to be dishonest with his lover, but he could not dare speak the truth. Tony looked as if wanting to protest, but swallowed his words and settled for an inquisitive stare, which Loki returned as positive as he could.

“I am fine, love. Do not fret.”

“Really now. And that surreal ectoplasmic goo that you absorbed was totally harmless?”

He avoided eye contact and sat up a bit more straight.

“Loki.”, his husband enforced. “For once I would like a clear statement without any sidetracking. I am so not in the mood for your games.”

Snorting angrily, the Trickster threw his head around and met his gaze with blazing eyes.

“What do you want to hear, Stark? That the Aether likes me? That I could possibly live for some more weeks, perhaps a month before it will have sucked up all my energy and strength? I have no idea how to fix this, how to get it out again or what to do if we could achieve it. The Aether will protect itself – and me, by extension – from any ill intent or harm until it has no use of my body any more. There is no way to force it out. And when it's done feasting on me, I'll be too dead to do anything against it.”, he growled. As Loki had expected, the engineer fiddled with his bedding for a few seconds more, before he chewed on his lip and stood up, leaving his side. It hurt nonetheless.

Sinking back into his pillows, the sorcerer closed his eyes and placed one arm over them to block out everything else. This could not be true. Why did this happen? Was there some force in the universe set on making his life miserable as soon as he dared to hope it would finally change for the better?

“Brother...”

Another growl tore itself from his lips. Damn it all, he needed to think, but all he could focus on was the burning under his skin, the raw force racing through his veins and the thrill the Aether emitted as it feasted on his magic and energy. It was too much to handle for him, as it had been too much for the Allfather, killing whatever life it found in the hopes to turn the worlds dark again.

Loki felt weak as he had not for years, almost as weak as at the time he had been fished out of the Void by Thanos. The Power Stone was invincible as long as it had a host. The only chance to fight it would be another transfer of bodies.

... and even then Loki doubted it would be enough. The might of the Stones was unmatched throughout the universe, and currently, he had no idea how to stand up against a force this deadly without dying himself. Oh, there were ways to ensure it would be closed off again, but every single one of them ended with his death.

And the favour had been paid. There was no entity indebted to any of them any more. The chance of cheating death had been lost.

Grim resolution set in. He would not give up without a fight. Loki had not fallen into the Mother Ash herself and lived to see another day, had not fought insanity and madness just to be defeated like some measly and puny mortal.

A soft hand caressed his cheek, and as he lifted his arm, Frigga's warm eyes looked at him with adoration and concern in equal measure, tears shining in them.

“Thank you for saving him.”, she whispered, kissing his brow, and he relished in the touch, twining his arms around her thin middle and pressing her to his body in an attempt to ground himself, trying to feel less lost, more focused, and not as hopeless as before. Loki had long ago given up to pretend with her, letting himself go and admit the pain he felt. The fear.

“Hush, my son. We will not give up on you. There will be a way.”

“If I could just share your believe, Mother.”

She drew away from him, a hand softly carding through his hair before breaking the contact.

“I will begin the research immediately. Do not fear. All will be well.”

She left, not without squeezing Odin's shoulder in a reassuring grip and kissing Thor's cheek.

Silence stretched in the room, none of the men comfortable. Eventually, Thor sighed deeply and sat down on the bed to his feet, face distorted in anger and sorrow. Loki pushed himself up again, sick of lying down like a bedridden invalid, even if he felt like one.

“Where is my daughter?”, he then asked, purely meaning to end the silence. He knew she would be safe. His family would have made sure of that.

“Steve had her when you awoke. They are in the anteroom, waiting for words.”, his brother answered, blue eyes staring into Loki's green ones with so much trepidation it clenched his heart painfully.

“I will fetch her for you if you want to see her.”

“No, it's all right.”, Loki said hastily. He did not know how volatile the Aether would react to her, and he did not want to find out now. He would die before hurting her.

It grew quiet once again, and the youngest in the room felt like he would climb the walls soon if nothing happened.

“Loki, why in all the Nine Realms have you accepted the Stone?”, Thor asked, exasperated. A snort was his answer.

“I had no choice. It latched onto the only soul strong enough to sustain it after...”, he paused. It still seemed surreal. Odin had been dead, and the strange feelings that had exploded in his chest as Loki thought it to be permanent confused him greatly. Had he really thought of him as 'Father'? Norns be damned, this was a nightmare. Rubbing his eyes and temples, Loki pulled his feet into a cross-legged sitting, and cradled his head into his hands after.

A heavy sigh from his left had him glance up and into the agonized face of the Allfather.

“When did we turn wrong, Loki?”, he asked, all his strength gone and so frail as if he still was on the brink of death.

“I cannot fathom, _my king_ , perhaps somewhere between the issue of my life being a lie and you rejecting me after I did everything to prove my worth to you.”, Loki spat, tossing away the blanket and groaning at the state of utter undress he was in. Why did they think it would be beneficial to rob him of his trousers?

Well, it wasn't as if both of the other present men had never seen him naked before. Stalking off to his wardrobe, he tugged on some clothes that still were stored for him and tried to make himself feel slightly more comfortable.

“Sneaking in enemies was no particular trustful move on your side.”

“You two would have toppled over the whole realm if I had allowed Thor to be crowned. Would you have just _listened_ to me once, I never would have thought of inviting that monsters in.”, he ground out and slammed the doors of the cabinet shut.

“I did not speak of the first time. I meant Laufey.”

Freezing on the spot, Loki went rigid, muscles in his shoulders tensing.

“I have long since come to accept that you were right in your assumption, and Thor was not ready by far. We both have. You, on the other hand, would have made a fine king if not for your ongoing streak of causing chaos along the way. I know you never wanted Thor's place, so I never thought about it either.”

Chest tightening, Loki forced himself to breath calm and deep or he would strangle someone. He did not trust himself to not do anything extremely idiotic if he should look at the Allfather again, so he stared at the wooden doors of his wardrobe, fists clenching, possibly leaving dark, crescent shaped marks in his palms where his nails bit into skin.

“Oh yes, your words clearly have given me that impression. Please do not attempt to lie to me, you know of the futility of this endeavour as well as I do.”, he grit out.

Why did it still hurt so much? Why was there still some part of him that craved his attention and benignity, despite knowing how lost the cause was? Why could he not just move on already and leave the old man, turn his back on him as Odin himself had done with Loki? He felt sick to his stomach, nausea eating away at him while he searched his mind for answers, why he had not left already, why he waited for some sort of appreciation, _anything_ to soothe the gashing wound that had never truly healed and which had reopened now and spilled its venom out in Loki's soul, reawakening his anger and hatred, his self-doubts, the inferiority he possessed because of his true parentage, all things he had thought were of the past by now.

And just his luck – the Aether was practically thrilled with all the loathing he had in his heart. Perfect.

“Loki, why did you ever think murdering Laufey in cold blood would earn you my respect? Have I not taught you better?”, Odin asked, and a new wave of shame and guilt hit Loki, hand in hand with hostile sarcasm.

“I think I used perfectly what you have taught me, Allfather. I averted war, decapitated the Jotun race as a whole, and tried to use it for my own ambitions. With the moves you have brought to me while I still believed your words.”, he huffed.

“This were not actions I would have observed from my son.”

The sorcerer whirled around, face a mess of desperation and irritation.

“Of course not! What did you think learning of my heritage had done to me? Have you believed me to be unaffected? After you taught us to hate and loath my own people? This... this _madness_ was on my mind and I could not think straight any more! Suddenly it all made so much sense, why I was always so different from all of you, and why you never looked at me the same way you looked at _him_.”, he snarled, jerking his head towards Thor – who looked purposefully on some runes Loki had scribbled on his headboard some centuries ago.

“You were always the same to me as your brother, Loki.”, Odin said softly, what earned him a bitter laugh. The Trickster carded his hand through his hair in an erratic motion, feeling his fingers shake in oppressed rage.

“You had a very funny way showing that to me. We were never equals, do not dare to claim otherwise.”

Thor shuffled a bit, clearly uncomfortable in this situation, but not inclined to leave either him or his father alone. Loki was grateful, because he really did not know what would happen once he and the Allfather would be left alone. Probably they would clash so violently they ended up killing each other.

In a sudden moment of clarity, Loki's eyes shot open and he looked at Odin with utter surprise and perplexity.

“You never wanted for me to take on Laufey's throne.”, he stated, the words earlier just now arriving in his head (“ _I know you never wanted Thor's place_ ”). “You wanted to marry me off to them.”

Thor roared a 'What?' into the room, while Odin nodded softly.

“The Jotun would have never accepted an aesir king, even if you would have been of their blood as well, but a connection through family would have ensured peace for as long as the marriage would have lasted.”, he confessed, and if that did not make it all the more unsettling.

“Well,”, the sorcerer stated drily, “it would have been awkward to explain why I changed colour while consuming the marriage.”

Norns, he even had not left any strength to be angry any more. What had become of his life? To be perfectly honest, political marriage did not even truly faze him. He had always expected something like this.

Just... the circumstances were almost morbid.

“What did you plan? To make me my own father's spouse? To marry my own brothers? Seeing as there are almost no females, my shapeshifting would have given them the perfect way to increase their population. Was it this? I was to be used as breeding stock?”

Thor looked greenish around his nose as Odin sighed out a desperate breath.

“Never, Loki. I would have never let anyone use you like this. I had planned to unite our realms with one of their woman, living here with you, in the hopes we could learn more about the other culture.”

“Have you been out of your mind?”, Thor now threw in, clearly distressed and indignant. “Father, have you _listened_ to what you just said? Laufey would have never agreed to these terms, and even if he did you would have condemned Loki to a life full of anger and resentment!”

“Would you rather I thought of sending him off as an ambassador, in constant danger of being assassinated?”, Odin gave back, glaring at his successor.

“I rather had him neither! He is your son!”

Now, that was going too far for Loki's liking.

“Thor, stop. I will not discuss this any more, it is futile.”, he said, and his brother fell silent.

Damn, this was a mess. A headache made itself known forcefully, a pulsing pain which felt as if his skull would split any moment. Sitting down besides the God of Thunder, he rested his head in his hands, finally failing in his try to appear strong and crumbling into himself.

He could not deal with this. Tony had left his side, despite Loki's desperate need of his presence. He did not know how the Aether would take Àsdís – what if she was hurt? It was a risk he just could not take. She was to be treasured, and protected, and he was dangerous at the present. Would that mean never holding her again? He shivered. What would happen if they did not find a solution in time? Loki truly did not want his life to end any more. He _liked_ being alive for a change. He had a purpose, he had something he cherished, and he himself was loved as well – why were the Fates so set on destroying him?

The Power Stone rolled in him. It burned his energy and irked his senses. It was troubling.

“How did you live with it for a full year?”, he asked into the room, subtly leaning against his brother in an attempt to calm himself down.

Odin sighed.

“I have more energy than you. The longer we live, the more we have at our disposal, the stronger we get, due to the force Yggdrasil grants us. I am even more connected to the World's Tree, thusly my reservoir of energy is vastly bigger than yours.”

“Are there any notes I may have yet to read in the library about it?”

“I fear not. Knowing you, it would be more surprising if you knew not even more than any other being.”

Loki snorted.

“Figures.”, he whispered. “Norns, Thor, what am I going to do? How do we right this?”

A strong arm was slung around his shoulders as his brother pulled him closer.

“We will find a way. We always do.”

Leather creaked as Odin stood up and made his way to face the two men.

“Why did you take it in, Loki? Surely you knew before what would await you.”

The headache doubled. He really did not want to deal with the man he had claimed as Father for a thousand years. He just wanted to get away from him, and better sooner than later.

“As I said before, I had no choice. As soon as your energy was out, the Aether chose me as suitable host, and as I was somehow focusing on actually rescuing your life, it slipped my watch. I had not anticipated a transition so soon.”

Loki still staggered over the fact that his brain had stopped working as he thought the Allfather dead. How had his feelings reverted to the teenage notions he had been sure to have left behind when he fell into the Void? Why? How could he still fear his death?

“I would have thought getting rid of me would meet your purposes.”

A nasty glare was shot at the Allfather.

“Surely you do not think me heartless. Was I to make your wife a widow and Thor king so soon despite having the means to spare them the grief?”

A good-natured smile lit up Odin's face as he watched him, and Loki narrowed his eyes, infuriated.

“We both know that this is not all. A weapon as dangerous as the Aether would have been the first thing on your mind. There was more.”

“And what of it? It is not of your concern.”, the Trickster growled. Was this some kind of parental ability, to smell the lies the offspring sprouted? By the Nine, that was annoying. Inwardly he laughed, black humour settling in as he thought that Àsdís would have a very hard time once she was old enough to lie with him as her father. God of Lies _and_ parent – she would never get anything past him.

If he would live long enough to see it, that is.

“We have a lot to talk about, son.”

Loki's heart stopped beating for a moment, and Thor went rigid besides him. Utter disbelief settled on his face as he backed away from the old king, shaking his head.

“No. No no no no. No. Certainly not. No chance. I will not go there again. I have just finished picking up the shards of my life you shattered when you rejected me, I have no desire to break them again. No. Absolutely not.”

And by the gods it _hurt_. It felt like ice had enclosed his heart and scattered its pieces through his veins in an attempt to make him bleed. What in all the Nine Realms did the Allfather plot now? What sort of trap had he set up now for the criminal Jotun he disowned and rather would have seen dead?

“It would only be your right to deny me. That does no change my mind.”

Forcefully standing up, easily towering over the Allfather, Loki looked down on him, feeling hurt and mocked beyond words, ridiculed and downright devastated, before giving a yell towards his ceiling.

“Until your fickle love for me disappears again? What is this now, remorse because I proved to be not the monster you thought me to be after my attempt to win me a Realm to rule? Because I am the one dying now, without any means to stop it? Why? Do you get your kicks out of torturing me?”, he panted out, stalking off to the other side of his room, pacing in long strides along the windows. He felt caged. Trapped in his skin, in this room, in this very _life_ , and he hated it.

“What you did on Midgard was beyond everything I had ever expected of you. What did you think? Have you truly thought we could forget this and never speak of it again? You had changed in your heart, Loki, and you have brought despair onto the humans, not only in body, but in mind. You struck a bargain with a force so deadly it could have destroyed you, too.”

Loki's blood began boiling.

“You did not think about what your actions would bring, there was nothing left of the man I could call my own, as you had brought war upon a Realm that could never dream of defend itself! There was nothing to gain for you, this whole attack an action born out of hatred! You killed hundreds, innocent people who never knew what they died for! How could I call you still my son after that? You were nothing but a shadow of the boy I raised!”

“I know!”, Loki yelled as he brought his fists to the wall, banging them on the stone and wood once so hard it almost gave way.

“I know.”, he repeated, eyes unfocused and face blank. “I did not return with Thor in the hopes to be welcomed. To be perfectly honest, I did not care what would happen. I have ceased to be yours as you crushed my mind before I let go of Gungnir, when I knew I would never be good enough for you. I only fled your cage for the simple reason that I did not want to loose my mind again.”

Swallowing hard, he tried to blink away the tears in his eyes as his heart thumped painfully hard against his ribcage with all the hurt feelings that never healed.

“I can't even bring myself to regret my actions. I had achieved exactly what I wanted. You were forced to deal with what I had done for once. You had to acknowledge you took the monster in and let it loose on the Realms. You had to stop ignoring me. And really, that was the plan all along. Finally, the Allfather had seen _me,_ and not only his true heir.”

For a moment, none breathed or moved. Then Loki went to the doors and left without looking back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um. Yeah. Hi.  
> *clears her throat*  
> This one was overdue. Odin-Loki-Talk. Yay. :D  
> And hey, 4100 words! And a day early as well! I was bribed. Heavily bribed.  
> Thank you so much for your ongoing favours! I love you!


	10. Being human

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quick Tony/Odin-heart to heart. Loki escapes to solitude.

 

 

~~~~~~

 

“I really am not fine with sitting here and waiting. Loki's going nuts in there.”, Tony said, rocking Àsdís as she played with Snipey.

“Nobody is going to stop you.”, Steve said, curious in his attempt to read one of the books he had found. “On the other hand, your Mother-in-law could be right and this will help him more than it seems now.”

“Gah.”, the engineer grit out and forced a smile on his lips as the girl in his hands blew him a raspberry.

A yell from inside the doors had their heads turn in sync. Pepper raised a brow.

“Screaming usually tends to be a move in the right direction.”

“Holy hell, _I'm_ going nuts here.”, Tony said exasperated. He had only left to fetch their daughter, so that Loki would calm down a bit. When he had wrestled her out of Clint's arms, Frigga had showed up and bade them to leave her men alone for some time. That this could be the chance to reconcile them – or at least, that they finally would talk to each other.

Another scream from inside, and some moments later the black haired sorcerer left his bedroom and stormed out of his chamber altogether without once looking around.

The heavy doors to the halls slammed close with a deep clank.

“That did not seem to have gone overly well.”, Natasha remarked drily, crossing her arms in front of her chest and intently watching the door to the bedroom. When Thor and Odin came out of the room after some seconds, both looked rather worried and not entirely well.

Àsdís wriggled her arms to her uncle, crawling to him as fast as she could once Tony had set her to the floor, a big grin on her face, the plushy dragged along on one antler. The Thunderer picked her up and sat her down on his arm, and she leaned her head down on his shoulder and cooed at Snipey.

“So, big guy, why has my husband chosen to escape?”

“There was talk about sentiment and mistakes, and he did not take it well.”, he sighed.

“Any idea where he is now? I mean, freaky sorcerer with more knowledge to ways in and out of any Realm he knows than any other person. I'd like to find him before the banshee needs food. She's rather picky in her eating habits.”

Odin regarded him with a long glance which made Tony feel very uneasy. Then he nodded and went to the door.

“I believe I know him good enough to follow him. Come, Anthony.”

Oh gods, Stark all alone with the Allfather? A quick look to Thor (who lowered his head once in approval), had him groan and stand up.

“No teaching her bad things. That includes whacking arrows on other people's heads, Bird Brain.”

“Oh man.”

 

 

Following Odin was somewhat interesting. He had the same aura of authority and the regal stance that Loki possessed, too, and made Tony wonder how much the god actually had inherited just by copying. They were eerily similar in their posture, strong but not overly so, proud, but not as radiating as Thor always was. Head high in the knowledge of being royalty, but not arrogantly so.

Well, at least Loki had not let that out since his attention-seeking-episode some years earlier.

“You are well suited to each other.”, the Allfather broke their silence as they walked past some guards. “He needed a strong hand to brace him, as you did, too, from all I heard.”

“Yes, well, we had some ground to work on, I suppose.”

Odin let a small smile grace his lips.

“I have to thank you for bringing him back.”

“Cannot take credit for that, it was Thor. He invited us.”

“I did not mean this place, Anthony. I meant his heart, and soul.”

“Oh.”

A few seconds of silence trickled by as they crossed a garden and followed a stairwell down.

“I have not seen my son this open and happy since he was a young boy. He grew up all too soon.”

Tony stopped dead in his tracks. No, the king was so not talking about Thor. Really not.

“Have you said that to Loki, too? Could explain why he raced out like a horde of wolves were after him.”

The one-eyed god sighed heavily.

“I have made some mistakes in my life, but I fear turning blind to him has been my gravest yet.”, he said, and sounded every year he looked like.

“Yeah, what exactly did you expect? I know Loki has not made the most clever decisions after he found out that he stemmed from the race you all here seem to scorn, what actually reminds me a bit too much of the reasons we humans had to fight a second world war, but he still did it all to prove himself to you. He just wanted to belong.”

Another door was opened for them. They stepped out of the palace and onto some kind of garden, grass and roads and rubble, enclosed by wooden buildings. The smell of animals wafted over to Tony.

“I thought him dead after he fell into the Mother Ash. The branches of Yggdrasil are volatile and tear apart any living souls upon contact. That he has lived is a wonder.”

“Aren't you seated of some kind of throne that makes it possible to see everything? How about searching for him?”, Tony grumbled.

“I did, for days on end. There was nothing. Frigga and Thor were stricken with grief.”

“And for you it just was good riddance?”

The engineer was shot a glare that would technically shut him up, but seeing as he was dead set on defending his lover, he just returned it.

“I had lost one of my sons. Pray that you never have to experience the feeling of losing a child.”

Tony snorted softly.

“I don't know why, but I can't wrap my head around the idea that you were truly so saddened by it, after all you almost executed him when he finally returned, after kicking him out of the family, that is.”

Odin did not answer immediately. Figures, Tony thought. Twisted the knife. When the Allfather finally spoke, his voice was low enough that he almost whispered.

“I did. And I never felt more like a monster myself afterwards.”

 

~~~~~~

 

The hay crunched besides him as Sleipnir folded his many legs under the mighty body and shielded him from sight. The horse neighed softly and blew his hot breath over his hair, not at all vexed by the Aether that had sent the other horses into fits of panic as they smelled the dangerous power.

Loki was pressed against the stable's wall, knees up to his chin and head buried in his arms as silent sobs shook his body. He never had cried often, mostly out of anger, seldom out of embarrassment, once or twice because of hurt feelings. That had changed a bit with Tony, because Tony was his safe haven, and Tony was worth his honesty and to see everything Loki was.

But back here, under the watch of Asgard, he could not let loose. Here he needed somewhere to hide, and he needed it desperately. Seeking comfort with the steed, like he had done so many times before, he finally let out what had threatened to happen for too long now.

He broke down like a child, like the little boy he once had been, gripping his mother's skirts, all the while pondering on why this always happened to him.

He should have stayed in New York. The more distance between him and Asgard, the better.

Loki thought it would feel good to reject the Allfather, thought he would enjoy breaking to him that all he had done had brought forth what he wanted, but he felt worse than before. Silly me, he thought, this always ends in pain.

Sleipnir nuzzled his nose on the fabric of Loki's shirt, gently nipping at it in some sort of playful beg to get attention, and the Trickster huffed out a chuckle before raising his head and softly petting the big black head.

“I wonder what would have happened if he never had picked me up. Surely I would have never lived as long, and perhaps the Realms would have been all the better for that fact.”, he sighed, snorting as Sleipnir made a disapproving neigh at him and snapped at his fingers with big teeth.

“Nothing of that, you know I am not afraid of your snout as the stable boys are.”

Leaning his head back against the wood, he stroked the black mane, closing his eyes and trying to sort through the flood of emotions. He needed to think, to find some way to contain the Aether before it killed him, without exposing some other life to the Power Stone.

And he needed to figure out how he could act around the Allfather without presenting him with some weakness. He could not let himself go. Not in front of the man who had broken him.

It had been hard enough to get along with Thor. And that had been childish issues at most in hindsight. His problems with Odin ran so much deeper. And had proven to be so much more destructive.

He sighed and angrily wiped away the stains in his face.

Well then. Time to get to know what had attached itself to his core. He slipped into meditation easily, centuries of practice and need for concentration helping him along. Loki focused on the strange new energy that crawled under his skin, a red hot force that buzzed when he reached out to it. Fascinating. It was not evil, so to speak – it just did not know when to stop, apparently. Deadly nonetheless, but interesting. Loki had always liked to get to know new things, and this was intriguing.

Sleipnir nuzzled him again a few minutes later, when he was short of burning the hay around them with an unconsciously summoned flame. Snuffing it out immediately, the god recognized the energy that the flame had been based on as some of the darkest he had ever felt.

He shivered.

“Transforming energy... Norns, what did the Elves plan on doing?”

Could he probably redo the container he had used to bind the Soul Stone into? Would the Aether let itself be caged like that, without killing him?

He frowned. Well, it was a start. They could work their way from that on.

The stable doors opened, freezing him on the spot before he softly shuffled to one corner in an attempt to hide further. The giant horse flicked its ears as two sets of steps came closer, slowed down and then stopped.

“That is one big horse. My ass.”

Sleipnir neighed at him, one of his front hooves tapping the floor.

“Wow, and it really has the eight legs. Millipede much? Wow.”

The steed rose to its full height, still positioned so that Loki would not be seen from the outside, and huffed out a breath in Tony's face.

“Okay, I did not anticipate that. I actually am a bit afraid. You are freaking _huge_ , man.”

“Sleipnir is a giant's breed. He seems frightening, but in truth is rather soft.”, the other man said – Odin, of course, just his luck – and patted the soft flesh between the nostrils, making the horse press into the touch gently.

Loki kept still. He did not want to deal with any of them just now, neither Odin (by the Nine, how could he stop that pang of anger and underlying adoration that flared up every time he thought about the blasted man?) nor Tony (he had left him with his idiotic brother and the Allfather. Not to mention the fact that he just had realized he would die rather soon... leaving had been a serious offence). What he wanted right now was peace and time to think.

A head poked into the stable, messed up hair and brown eyes searching and lighting up as they locked with Loki's green ones.

“Hey there, Sweet Cheeks. Having fun? He seems to have. Didn't you tell me he is not your son?”

“Go away.”

“Um, no, I don't think so. Hey, Pony, care to scoot over and let me in?”

Sleipnir looked at him in irritation, not moving a single muscle. Loki smiled.

“Oh come on, please? I'll be nice.”

The animal blew out another gust of air in the engineer's face.

“That is really not fair.”

The human tried to squeeze himself through the small gap that Sleipnir had left between himself and the wall, prompting Loki to roll his eyes and push the black stallion softly so he would move a bit.

“Thanks a lot, princess.”, he said once he was inside the box and seated besides his husband. “So, care to talk to me? Right after I apologize, that is, and I hope you know how seldom such a thing is, because hey, I don't do apologies, but really, I planned only to get the slug so you would relax a bit, but your Mum practically threatened us to stay out of your room until you came out yourself, and who am I to go against your Mother? She's like Pep. Or Pep's like her. Whatever. Fact is, I--”

Loki shut him up with a hand firmly pressed upon his mouth.

“Cease your chatter, Stark.”

“Mmmmh, forrrermgry.”, he mumbled some muffled sounds, but his eyes were soft and gentle, so much love in them as he pried off the pale hand carefully and placed a kiss on the open palm.

“Talk to me?”, he asked, but Loki shook his head.

“No.”

“Please?”

The god did not even bother with replying. He just closed his eyes and flung his arms around his knees, effectively folding down in himself again. Tony pressed their bodies together, kissed his temple with some difficulty (he still was shorter) and nudged him softly with an elbow.

“Come on. You know I'm good at listening if I want to be.”

“Has it ever crossed your mind that I really do not want to talk right now?”, Loki mumbled annoyed and shot a glare to the place where the Allfather surely was standing, somewhere behind the massive stable doors.

“Oh.”

“Moron.”

“Hey now, that was rude.”

Loki flicked his fingers at Tony's forehead, earning a pained outcry.

“Please, Tony.”, he whispered.

Rolling his eyes, the engineer rose to his feet again and carefully made his way back out of the box. Loki exhaled softly, grateful for the little understanding his husband showed to him. Feet shuffled, and some moments later Tony came back, while Odin apparently left. Sleipnir lay down again, quite interested in the new person, watching him intently and flaring his nostrils at him.

“Yeah, hi, nice to meet you, don't eat me.”, Tony said, clearly on edge with the giant beast who sniffed him and blew air at him. Loki chuckled softly.

“He's a big softy, I assure you. And despite having told you on several occasions, no, I am not his parent.”

Loki watched amused as the horse brought his head down to Tony's, nipping interested at his hair and butting the arc reactor, too, making the human shift uncomfortable, trying to press closer to the wall.

“Sure he doesn't want to eat me? He seems hungry with all that snuffling and nibbling.”, he asked as Sleipnir carefully tugged on his shirt with his lips.

“You're new, and interesting. He's just trying to decide whether you are worth his attention or not, and when he finds you to his approval, you will have to pet him. No way around it.”

Huge dark eyes stared Tony into the ground, and the sorcerer took one of his hands, brought it to the big snout and placed it between the nostrils. The horse leaned into the fingers, still not showing the slightest inclination to back away, and the engineer gave a crooked smile back.

“Have I told you that I'm not really comfortable around horses? And this is not just a horse, this one is a mammoth. With too many legs. You aliens sure have strange fauna.”

“Oh, you're doing quite well. He's harmless.”

They sat together in the hay for some quiet moments, Tony being harassed into stroking Sleipnir by headbutting and nipping, while Loki closed his eyes and tried anew to get his thoughts in order.

He sighed.

“Odin called me 'son'. Can you believe it? I almost strangled him on the spot.”

“Look, he likes me!”, his husband said joyfully, scratching one ear and grinning when the horse leaned into the touch. Then he turned his head and patted Loki's knees.

“Nobody would have judged you, really. I gave him a piece of my mind for you earlier.”

Enthusiastically scratching more of the big horse head pushed into his body, Tony scrambled to his feet and looked Sleipnir over.

“Fascinating creature. D'you think we could borrow him?”

“What in all the Realms did he think? That I break down in tears at his benevolence and thank him for taking me back?”

“Would be funny as hell taking him for a stroll down in Central Park...”

“How can he think I would want that?”

“Imagine the horrified faces!”

“He _disowned_ me, why does he want me back?”

“A shame that Halloween's over already.”

“All this talk about being better than Thor, really, does he think me dumb to believe him?”

“Fury would have a heart attack.”

“Is it too much to ask to be left alone?”

“Can we show him to Bruce?”

Loki groaned and ruffled his hair, just to have something to do for his hands.  
“Why, by the Norns and Yggdrasil, have I still the need to impress him and win his love?”, he said, before he realized what words had left his mouth. Eyes going comically wide, he looked up to Tony, who had a slight smile tugging on his lips as he petted Sleipnir.

“You did this thing again.”, the sorcerer pouted.

“Yup.”

The 'Thing' being pretending he did not really listen, absorbed in some idea or project, while Loki ranted and spilled forth what bothered him.

“You get to the important matter way faster that way, and it saves me the trouble to worm it out of you.”

“'Tis is a sad day, when a human can best me with tricks.”

“Used that one at increasing intervals, Bambi. You're loosing your touch.”

Maturely sticking out his tongue, Loki sighed and cast his eyes down.

“I just can't imagine the reason why I still would want to belong here. What could I possibly find here that I have not already found with you?”

Now the smile was blossoming wider, edging on a smirk when the engineer left the horse with a last pat on the flank and sank down again, right beside his husband, leaning their shoulders together.

“He's still your dad. I've had my own Odin, on a much smaller scale, give you that, and while he's dead for some twenty years, I ask myself every time I do something if he would be proud of me, or if it would be enough this time to actually get a smile out of him.”

Loki huffed.

“This Realm has lost its appeal for me long ago. I have severed any ties when I fell from the Bifröst, and have never regretted. And now, at the slightest hint of approval that is extended to me I revert back to the ignorant and naïve child that wants nothing more than to please the man that will reach out complaisantly and break me all over. Why?”

Tony shrugged.

“You've lived a ridiculous amount of time with them. Hell, I can't even imagine. There will always be someone you try to prove yourself to, and even if you're totally mummy's darling, it is the one the others look up to, too, you want to be proud of you. One's always searching for approval by the one who's the least likely to give it. It's something like a law of nature.”

The god grumbled, clearly distressed and angry at himself, nervously wriggling his fingers and gnawing at his lower lip.

“Now don't do that or I'll have to do things with you that Sleipnir here surely will not appreciate.”

Horny bastard. Ceasing the nibbling, Loki stood up and brushed off the hay that had tangled in his clothes. He stretched languidly, before reaching out and tugging Tony to his feet as well. He was given a gentle look with these warm eyes the colour of chocolate, and could not help the crooked half-smile that moved the corners of his lips.

“Am I crazy?”, he asked quiet as a breeze, and his husband shook his head.

“You're human. Feelings aren't always rational, they mostly are the opposite, and there was never a time when you could have sorted this mess out. It catches up on you now that you are forced to interact with him.”

“By the Nine, this is a situation.”

Sleipnir neighed, as if to give his consent. Tony cupped Loki's cheeks and pressed an almost chaste kiss to his lips, which was returned fiercely and with an embrace so crushing that it almost resembled one of Thors'.

“I love you, Loki, and so does Àsdís. Whatever happens, this is permanent. For me, you mean everything.”

Loki just hugged him closer, eyes burning with fresh tears as he thought about the death sentence that had been raised over his head.

“I love you too.”, he whispered back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes I think my Tony is way too mature in his emotional approach - and then I think, Loki's done that. Tony's grown up for him.  
> So - Loki's more or less terminally ill. Nice. Can't wait to see what happens next to him.  
> Will he die? Will he live? J.K.Rowling said it's hard killing of characters, but perhaps I am more the George R.R. Martin-type of writer...
> 
> And hey, what's with Odin all of a sudden?


	11. Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stopping in the past never helped anyone - Loki has to find a way to save his life.

 

 

“Gods, has she pooped again? Where does this even come from?”, Clint asked, nose ruffled and holding the giggling child with pinched fingers as he sniffed once more.

“Come on, I'll change her.”, Pepper offered, taking the girl and vanishing into the bedroom, just as Loki and Tony opened the doors and entered again.

“Look who's chosen to get back to the common infantry!”, Natasha grinned, Steve promptly giving her a scolding look.

“Where's Pikachu? Or Queen Mum?”

“The Allfather came by and asked to speak with them privately. We've been given a free pass to roam the palace, and later we will be fetched to dinner with them.”, Bruce explained in a soft voice.

When they fell silent, only the squeals of a happy baby echoed through the room, followed by Pep's laughter.

“Are you okay?”, Jane asked, shooting them a look from underneath her eyelashes, trying to sound neither pitying nor too curious. Loki let himself fall on some vaguely horizontal surface, belatedly recognizing it as the chest he kept his knives in, wherever they stemmed from.

“No. Not by far. But we seem to have a bit of time, and I have some ideas as to how I could fix this mess.”

“This... mass, whatever it was, is dangerous, isn't it? It almost killed Odin.”, the Captain stated, getting back a nod from both Tony and Loki.

“Yes. Though it is not evil in the classic sense, it burns the energy of its host and uses it for its own needs.”

“So it'll kill you, too?”, Tasha wanted to know, as neutral as she could. Another nod.

“Probably. I estimate that the Aether will have sucked up what power I have to offer in about three weeks, perhaps a bit more if I can syphon enough magic to divert it from my life's force. On the other hand, I'm a bit hard to kill, I have noticed, and I surely will not give up so easily. I have not lived with Thor of all people without learning how to not give up, even if it seems pointless.”

“Well then. What can we do?”

 

 

Loki had broken down how he had encased the Soul Stone in the crystal hexagon, and given a theory why this could work with the Aether too. It had been a simple act, unlike the Power Stone, the Soul Stone was rather bland and placid, making it malleable and simple to handle. The crystal he had obtained in Muspellheim, pure quartz without a single inclusion or flaws, hand-cut by Loki to appear its hexagon-shape, had all but sucked up the power he had unleashed out of an unfitting and ill-forged amulet, satisfied with finally having an adequate place to rest.

He had not noted how perfidious the thing was truly until it was almost too late. Sentient being that it was, it had held back in the beginning so he would feel no need to guard his mind as much, and then began to systematically plant ideas in his head – how Hel seemed nice, all those interesting laws of nature broken and for him to understand, that the hall of Odin and Freyja had never been opened for either of them – why not sneak a peak? Surely it would not harm anyone.

He had almost done it. His hands had been on the doors that were like paper between the world of the living and the dead, and only then Loki had seen what he was about to do and had fled as far away as he could. Opening these doors would have had serious effects on the continued existence of practically everything.

Finding back to himself (and Asgard, for that matter) had lasted years, the hold of the Soul Stone itching under his skin still, forcing him to search out the boundaries of the universe for souls.

Once he had forged the chain of uru, and had wrapped it around the now dark green and dull crystal, secured with a holding spell, the force had left him, encased and sealed.

“All right then, off to that Realm we go.”

Loki snorted and fetched a tome as big as a family pizza from one of his shelves, carefully opening it.

“I doubt you would live to return. Muspellheim is littered with highly active volcanoes, extremely hot, let alone meeting up with some of the inhabitants. It is the perfect opposite to Jotunheim, actually.”

“Can you or Odin not just work some magic and we're done?”

“I could, I just do not know of the merit of it, seeing that I have searched for years before I found a crystal as perfect as I needed it to be.”

“Oh.”

“I fear crystal will not hold the Aether, it will work well for aspects of sorcery, but raw power mostly proves to be too much for the fine structures. We would need to find a material that is a bit sturdier. Not in the... what did you call it... Mohs Scale? I think it was Mohs scale. Not harder in that aspect, but better able to channel and filter energy and power.”

Bruce had quickly proposed some materials, Tony added what he knew, and in the following discussion about sources and where to obtain the things, how to get where they could find it, time flew by. Loki cared for his daughter's need, once he had made sure the Aether would not see her as a threat, quite relieved that he would be able to interact with her as he had for the last months.

“How do you know all this about them? You're practically filled to the brim with information.”, Steve asked after Loki had told them what he knew about the habits of the Dark Elves.

“I've lived with them for some time. I have wandered all the Nine Realms frequently, and I made it a habit to learn as much as I could from any race I came across. I allied with Malekith to study them, and in exchange was obligated to help them defend themselves from danger. It was a deal well used.”

A soft knock on the door had them turning, Loki opened his doors to a servant who softly informed them of the waiting dinner.

It was horrifying.

Sif and Fandral shot Loki looks that could kill, even intensifying once they noticed that the sorcerer was ignoring them completely, only acting with the humans, Thor, or Frigga, who had called dibs on feeding Ásdís, doting happily on the child and not at all irritated by the awkward tension that filled the room.

There were not many words spoken that evening, even if Thor and Steve made some attempts to light up a conversation. Loki was still fuming about Odin's words, even if his demeanour revealed nothing of it, bitterness blazing due to the petulance the Allfather showed him. Blowing hot and cold, the humans would say, and it unnerved him to no end because he never knew what to expect of him.

The only thing that had lifted Loki's mood a bit were the frightened looks the guards and servants had given him all evening through. There had to be a myriad of rumours floating in the palace, soon the whole city, of his return and why he had chosen to reveal himself.

Loki had always been fond of the ridiculous stories people came up with. He loved starting and spreading them, because nothing wrecked havoc quite as well as the right words at the right ear.

A single word could bring down regencies.

But he was so weary of his brother's friends, so tired of their constant mistrust and the following actions, that he left the table as soon as they had finished their dinner under the excuse to bring his daughter to bed. His mother followed him, not ready to part with the giggling bundle that was not going to sleep for a few more hours at least, if Loki knew her at all, soothing her younger son with her presence alone.

Tony had asked if he should leave, too, and he would have, but he had fun interacting with the Dorky Four, sassing them and being the most obnoxious brat he could be without getting on the nerves of Odin. They were delightfully riled up when the sorcerer and the Queen had left the room, and Loki felt gree. He had kissed Tony's hand and had told him to have some more fun.

“My Loki, what troubles you?”, the gentle voice of his mother breached his thoughts after the doors to his chambers had closed. He sighed.

“Besides the fact that the artefact your husband has obtained through ways I do not want to ponder is trying to kill me now? Oh, and of course the fact that I am forced to sit through meetings with him and Thor's imbecilic goons for the unforeseeable future, waiting for them to safe my life? Nothing, Mother, I think I am doing quite well.”

He was just a bit ashamed that he had spoken to his mother like this, dry sarcasm and cynical response, but Loki really was in no mood for small talk any more.

He let himself fall into the settee, located in the anteroom, propping his chin on his hand and staring into the fire someone had ignited to warm the rooms. Frigga lowered Ásdís to the floor so she could roam freely through the room, explore and move, while she would surely coax out of her son what was eating at him.

“I gather the few minutes you spent alone with your brother and Odin did not go over well for you?”

“How you ever could believe leaving us without supervision would be a good idea is way beyond me.”

She snorted and sat down, grasping his hand and gently traced his long fingers.

“That you have talked at all is a big step for you. Sometimes wounds can only heal if they are reopened.”

Loki tensed, almost withdrawing his hand from the soft touch because she willingly put him though the whole pain again, the loss, the betrayal, the hurt, the mistakes he had made, all that went wrong still fresh and sharp as a knife's edge in his mind.

“I know you feel wronged, and I know he feels wronged, too. You have both made some mistakes along the way, and all I want to see is that you both are well again.”

Had she not done the same? Hiding the truth from him was as much her mistake as it had been Odin's. Couldn't she see that? Alas, she never had cast him out, had never purposefully _left_ him.

A tug on his trousers had Loki look down to the little girl he cherished above all, and it made him wonder if he would ever break her trust like Odin had done with him. If he could betray her at all. This being who loved him unconditionally, who was indifferent to how he looked, how his body temperature changed as long as he smiled at her and held her and loved her back.

He sighed, tired of being forced to speak his emotions.

“Would you be very cross with me if I did not want to talk about that any more today? I fear you have left an impression on my husband, seeing as he is almost as versed with your techniques regarding matters of the heart...”

“Of course not. I apologize for putting you in this situation. It is just...”, she closed his eyes briefly and leaned her head against his shoulder.

“I long to see my boys healed again. You are my family, all of you, and it pains me to see what has become of it. But if it is too much for you to bear, I will refrain from meddling.”

Loki kissed her blond locks, torn between trivializing the matter or feel guilty for putting her through this with his stubbornness. He kept silent.

That had been the first day.

 

 

On the second day, the royal family as well as any librarian they could get their hands on pored over books to find even the last ounce of information while the Avengers were shown around the palace and the city, effectively turning them into tourists (or rather 'Thor-ists', as Clint had snickered). Loki explained what he had in mind to try, relying on his first attempt at the Stones, while subtly breaching the subject as to where the Allfather had found the Aether, and why in all the Realms he had not seen that the Gauntlet went missing.

Odin had stated that Loki had ever been the only one he knew who could differentiate magical energies as well as he did, and the fine nuance that had set the original off from the illusion had not roused any suspicion. He looked older than the sorcerer had ever seen him, and Loki once again thought that he would do good to leave the throne to Thor sometime soon, if just because the strain was becoming too much for him to bear.

“In the war against the Elves, no one has seen Algrim, or am I mistaken?”

All answers were negative, prompting the Trickster to frown.

“I thought as much. It was his magic that placed the illusion in the vault while we were battling their army. It has taken some time, but I remembered its signature. I firmly believe he is the one who is in possession of the Gauntlet at the moment, but he is still searching for the Aether, if I assess him correctly. It is the Elves' most prized weapon and they have been furious for millennia that Bor has closed it away somewhere. He surely will come to carry it back home.”

When they left the old tomes, words so old even the Allfather had been but a child when the ink went dry, Loki had proven to be the one with the most knowledge, derived from his always curious nature, his thirst for wisdom, the alliances he had forged, and all of his demands had been met immediately, enforced to be executed as soon as possible by Odin himself. Running around on Asgard were now some of the Einherjers, in search of perfect crystals, gems, stones, specific metals and so on, to be brought back to the palace as soon as possible.

Falling back into bed early in the evening, Loki once more touched the Aether, relieved to notice it was content with his magic at the moment. This he could handle. His use of it would be dimished, but if that meant a longer time to find a solution, he would endure.

He had endured longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tiny bit shorter than the others, but I promise to update sooner, because the next chapter will be even shorter >


	12. This is not acceptable.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How to deal? What to do?

 

 

Day three had begun with a lot of questions, and Loki answered them to the best of his abilities, stating that he was fine and all would be well. They were in the Realm Eternal, where things out of the ordinary practically _were_ ordinary, and they would surely find a way how to extract the Aether from his body without harming him in the process.

“Have no worries. It's going to be okay.”

It would be, wouldn't it? This could not really happen. How had this happened, again?

Loki was sure this was a jest from the universe, as it had been not the first in his life.

Another meeting with the library had Bruce and Tony almost in tears from joy and disappointment equally – joy due to the unlimited amount of wisdom and science, disappointment because they could not read a single thing.

“So, where did you say the Stone was hidden?”

Pulling out a map, Loki spread it out on a table large enough to host ten people, picturing the Realms on a stylized tree, Yggdrasil.

“Once every odd five-thousand years, there is something we call convergence. The Realms overlap with each other, and the paths between them open. Malekith wanted to use this phenomenon to enhance the powers of the Aether in the war with Bor, when the next-to-last convergence happened. He was defeated, the Stone stored away, deep in the bowels of one of the Realms. The last convergence – dated four years ago – must have opened the way to it, enabling it to escape its prison and search for a new host. I dare not think of how many lives it hast devoured before it found the Allfather.”

“So, this was just coincidence?”, Bruce asked as he studied the map, intently sucking up every bit of information he could. Loki shrugged.

“Who knows. There is no information found as to where it was hidden. Perhaps he has searched for it without telling anyone. I do not care, to be honest. Somehow, it has manifested in him, and he has hid this fact for a year. We have seen it is capable of switching bodies in an instant, and that it once could be contained. I aim to reproduce this fact.”

 

 

Day four was spent at leisure while waiting for materials to work with. Loki showed Tony some of the more intriguing places, the ones he had not yet seen, explained their sky, their sun, their whole Realm a bit more in detail to him, wandering off to the Bifröst and laughing at all the questions his husband had. In his typical manner Tony annoyed Heimdall, to Loki's great amusement as he leaned on the round opening, arms crossed, smirk on his lips, and the engineer mumbled, muttered, thought out loud, and chattered until one's ears bled. They had left their child with Thor, who was proudly showing her around and probably got her her first armour.

In the afternoon, they sat at the shore, listening to the sea, not thinking what lay ahead of them and not even speaking.

Like a normal day.

Day five brought forth first results with some of the gems and metals the Einherjer had produced as fast as they could. The Aether recoiled as Loki gently tried to push it into the vessels, whatever he tried. He did not dare try again after the Power Stone had reacted violent, emitting a blast of force that sent everyone flying. He holed himself up in the library for the rest of the day, researching spells and techniques to expel unwanted additions to ones body or soul until late into the night.

 

 

“Wrap up the banshee, I have to show you something.”, Loki said upon waking on day six, kissing Tony with a wicked grin and already jumping out of the bed.

'Something' turned out to be a blacksmith's workshop in the more industrial part of the City, run by dwarves, and surprisingly, Loki was greeted enthusiastically and with much words and witty remarks. The god laughed heartily and so open Tony was a bit jealous, because that laugh was actually reserved for him, he had thought.

Then Loki turned around, and the joy in the green eyes made his heart melt with love.

“Come on, slowpoke. You'll love this.”

And by the Norns, he never had seen Tony's eyes light up like that ever before. He beamed like a child who got his presents early as he stepped into the personal forge of the second Prince of Asgard, equipped with everything one could imagine to be needed.

“I thought you would like that.”

“This is awesome beyond being awesome.”

Loki grinned.

“You are welcome.”

“What are we waiting for? Gimme something to do already.”

A merry laugh echoed through the room as Loki shifted Ásdís to his left arm, flicking his right index finger and igniting the hearth.

“We'll get her a place to stay and then you'll help me work on the metal containers I plan on trying.”

“Oh hell yes. I mean, Jarvis actually could have helped with the maths here, but hey, medieval superhumans who think magic and science are the same, teach me.”

“I plan to.”

They had spent hours working together, Loki showing how to work with certain materials Tony never had held in his hands before, much less wrought. The sorcerer had finished a first attempt in no time, split by a small band of obsidian glass, but frowned as he looked at it.

“What?”

“The Aether refuses it. Again. Have I been mistaken, and the Stones do not actually want a vessel? The Soul Stone seemed very much inclined to rest in one...”

Tony shrugged and brought the hammer down against a sliver of uru, stubbornly refusing to give up on it because Loki was waiting for it.

“You know, perhaps its more the fact that we try to contain it in a certain space. It seemed pretty liquid so far, I'm sure I'd not want to slosh around in a box.”

Loki sat down the jar – a pretty jar, but nothing more – and stood behind his husband, gently taking hold of his hands and the tools by extension.

“You're thinking too much. Uru needs finesse and strength. And instinct. Let yourself go.”, he whispered into an ear, and swung the hammer through Tony's arm.

 

 

By the end of the seventh day, they had fifteen different vessels of different materials, all chosen by Loki himself for his experience with another Infinity Stone, all perfect in their own rights, and still the Aether ricocheted from every single one, flaring out dangerously.

“Why does this not work?”, he had whispered, anger in his face, before roaring and almost turning a column into dust with the magic he unleashed. He reeled back at that and huffed.

“Figures.”, Loki muttered, thinking about how it was just his rotten luck that the Aether liked anger and had augmented the magical output his body could produce exponentially.

By the Nine, what would he have given for this power in another situation. Now, it just would cut his time short, and that was not acceptable.

 

 

The Trickster was filled with restless energy that had him lash out at everyone he came across. Uptight and iffy, he snarked and spilled scathing remarks like he had collected them beforehand just to toss them out now, and his temper fell short.

Thor had dragged him along to the training fields, to work out a bit of the tension his brother radiated, and was repaid with some nasty cuts and bruises. Loki was like a feral beast, vicious and aggressive as neither of the Avengers had ever seen him. For the first minutes of the sparring, both brothers were silent bar the huffing and panting, but then the younger one began to mutter things, spiking in a shouted “This is all your fault, you moronic brute!”, and a savage move that brought Thor down to his knees with little means to defend himself. Hair plastered to his face, Loki had staggered off after tossing his weapons away, hiding somewhere and pondering about the unfairness of it all.

Why? Why was this happening to him? Had it not been enough he lost ground once after learning of the adoption? He just had wanted to help. Was he going to be repaid like that every time he had intentions that not bordered on psychopathic, suicidal or megalomaniac?

 

 

~~~~~~

 

“This was not how he fights usually. This was desperation speaking.”, Thor announced gravely once he was clean and the wounds tended to, not that they would not heal until the next day. “He was erratic, under normal circumstances I tend to be able to follow his moves. Today, I had no idea what he would do next. This was not the fluid technique he has mastered.”

“It certainly looked like you were fighting an animal.”, Clint added. “I've never seen something like that, and I have seen Tasha more often than I can count, what usually comes pretty close. Loki was totally out of control.”

 

In the afternoon, Pepper had left for Earth again, if just because there was a company to lead. She would stay in contact, given that Heimdall would be able to relay her messages. But this was an emergency, and Earth as well as Stark Industries and the Agency Loki worked for would have to cope without them while they had to deal with a family mess of higher standards.

They should take their time. She'd come visit when something would happen. Tony did not want to let her go. He needed her. She had helped him through most situations, and when this was not a serious one, then what would be? Ásdís had not been happy at her absence, wailing and crying, and the engineer suspected that it was Loki's 'fault' somehow – they shared an unique bond, and with all the emotional bonding they had while he carried their daughter, it would not surprise him if she could feel him and he her still. It would actually explain why Loki always seemed to know beforehand when she would become cranky.

“Dizzie, tell me what to do, I'm at a loss.”

She sniffled in his neck, grabbing his shirt and babbled a bit.

“Yeah, good idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, dearies, I'm so sorry, I almost forgot oO  
> I was relishing the fact that we booked our honeymoon today, and in denial about the need to clean the flat. Um. Yeah. Sorry.


	13. Et tu, Maman?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing is as it seems to be. Love and Betrayal lie on the two sides of a knife's edge, and to feel that blade is a pain Loki could do without.  
> Alas, what means has he to counter it?

 

~~~~~~

 

On day ten, Loki was still so strung that it barely needed a word to let him explode. He was like nitroglycerin, ready to blast when touched with a feather.

He held back with Frigga and Ásdís, of course, and Tony seemed to be one of the people he was not as volatile with, but he took a grim satisfaction out of yelling the hell out of the Dorky Four every time they approached him. It was funny at first, when they came and brought him the last samples of the ordered materials, just for him to either fling them through a window for being not satisfying or yelling at them why they could not have brought them earlier if they were to his liking. The more Loki pushed this whole aggressive act, though, the more Tony grew concerned. Usually, his husband was so balanced, so controlled. He waited for him to snap and do something they would regret.

It turned out to be Odin who hit the red button on day eleven.

While the Avengers had left for the city, led by the Dorky Four, Frigga had insisted on a family dinner with her sons and their spouses. It had been easier as of late to talk with them in the evenings, but right then Loki almost climbed the walls with fury in his veins, stabbing his meal more than he ate (and his daughter happily copied him and distributed her mushy vegetables on the table), and when the Allfather more or less demanded he behave, Loki had plunged his knife in the wooden table, glaring at him in a way that would kill lesser beings on the spot.

“This is all your fault.”, he had rasped out, breathless and tense. “Whatever is wrong with my life, the sole reason is you.”

“Loki--”

“Whatever I have achieved, it was for you, whatever I did, I did it so you would be proud of me, and you never even acknowledged it. I have succeeded in so many tasks, have mastered more weapons than any other man on your Realm, I am able to do things that no one else may even try, and still, all you ever saw in me was the monster you rescued and who came back to you, and all your assumptions have been proven true. And now I am paying for your mistakes all over again.”, he panted out, fists balled and eyes narrowed to slits, plastered on the knife stuck in the table. Tony gulped and cautiously extended one hand to touch him, but Loki withdrew his arm from reach.

“Don't. I'd leash out on you.”

Odin sighed, leaning back heavily, watching the black haired man so clearly in distress and so stricken by his fate.

“This was never my intention, Loki. You were as important to me as your brother was.”

“You have said that before, and I do not believe it today more than the last time.”

A minute of awkward silence ensued, while Loki tried to get himself under more control. Then, the Allfather spoke again, soft, voice laden with memories and millennia of moments.

“After your fall into the World's Tree, we were grief-stricken. We did not understand why you had felt compelled to forsake your own life, why you would willingly claim death. When Frigga found you, changed and cold, I think I understood, finally. But by then there was nothing left of the son I loved. “

_The boy I knew is dead._

Loki jerked as the memory flashed before his eyes.

“He died with your words the year before.”, he whispered, bitterness and hatred mixed in the rough exhale of breath.

“Thor brought you home, and all I could see was this broken creature that had seen darkness and truth, betrayal and hatred.”

“And so you decided to make it all better with promises of eternal imprisonment in solitude, when you could have fulfilled my wish and granted me what I had not achieved prior.”

At that, a wry smile settled on Frigga's lips.

“You know, I never _asked_ him to spare your life. There was no need.”

A few seconds trickled by, as the others tried to understand the meaning of these words. Thor cleared his throat.

“You had not planned on execution, then.”

The Allfather shook his head.

“How could I? I had almost lost him once, how should I stand being the reason for not only that, but end his life myself?”

“Then what was it that had you disown me? Why tell me my birthright was not a throne, but death? Your words contradict your actions!”, Loki yelled, forlorn and on the brink of breaking down because he had buried that memory so deep in his mind that he had almost forgotten how empty he had been after, how alone, how deserted he had felt once again.

“Because you were the mirror I had avoided to look into for months!”, the Allfather yelled back, bashing his hand on the table so that everyone but Frigga reeled back, prompting Ásdís to start crying.

“ _I_ unleashed what I had buried in you the day I took you home, and you presented it to me with your famous silver tongue when you were brought to me in chains. Your words were wicked, and the touch the Tesseract had on you was not gone completely. You _were_ like her, and you spilled forth the truth. I could not look at you any longer, not without seeing how I had failed you, how I was the one who had planted these notions in your head, how you _still_ wanted me to love you, even though I had broken you.”, he said, and Loki felt himself shaking, heart bleeding and mind breaking.

“I did what I had to do. I drove you away from me, from us – and from further harm. I shall not hurt you again.”

“So what, you... you... what! You wanted to lock me in that cell, so I would be out of reach? Let me go crazy again?”

Loki's voice was shrill, torn between believing and hating, anger flaring up again. Frigga reached out for her granddaughter, soothing her with soft words before she looked at her youngest with a raised eyebrow.

“You have never been suspicious about who left you to escape?”

“A second of unawareness, I believe. You should have that guard flogged.”

Both king and queen snorted.

“Who taught you the art of magic? Loki, you are not the only one adept at illusions. Surely you would not have me punished like that.”, Frigga said.

The god broke. He coiled on the chair, itchy and unwell in his skin, a full panic attack rising in him that left him hyperventilating as the sudden clarity that he had been lied to further, that no one of his decisions were his alone, that his beliefs still were fogged by falsehoods and untruths and _which words could he still believe_?

“That is... it's... how come... what... too much.”, he wheezed, tears rolling down his face as he tried to understand, as he sought to unravel what had been said, before he stood up, chair being pushed over in the process, not caring that his daughter was crying, and he would hate himself later for that, but right now he had to escape again, flee this people who had played him, played with his heart, and Loki was not able to breath, his vision grew fuzzy, black edges appearing, before he finally got hold of the only emotion that he had a clear understanding of.

Rage.

_Why?!_

Had it not been enough to see him destroyed, everything of importance ripped from him? All he had done before – worthless, as he himself was? Could they not at least have left him the illusion of family, of somewhere to belong to, even if it would have been out of reach for the rest of time?

And now to insist that they had done it to _help_ him! It was preposterous. It was... absurd, and grotesque, and Loki felt betrayed all over again – this time not only by the fake father he had loved, but by the mother whom he had trusted, whom he had loved, and it hurt even more than being cast out with two little words.

He left the rooms as fast as he could, feeling hot, molten lava racing through his veins as the Aether feasted on his emotions, sucked up the magic he contained on the verge of breaking free, increasing it tenfold and filling him to the brim with a power he had not felt since Thanos' staff had been reached out to him.

Loki did not knew where he went. There was a hot blade driven into his heart, into his soul, and he wanted it out, not caring where and when, but it did not feel right, not perfect, and he walked away in search of...

He let go.

 

 

~~~~~~

 

Both Tony and Thor had trailed after him the second he left, following him before he did something that hurt him further. When Loki finally lashed out and let go of the power the anger fuelled, the palace shook with the force he unleashed, turning a whole wing into rubble, the Aether flaring out and helping along with the destruction.

The dust cleared, and when it had settled enough to see, Loki was on his knees, hands braced on the floor, the whole figure shaking violently as tremors rocked his body, sobs and residue power all the same, and it broke his brother as well as his husband.

He looked so small, so lost, and so wrecked as he sat between the rubble, hair wildly tousled, hands fisted around dirt and dust, like a child.

Sighing, Tony stepped around some bigger rocks that had formerly been some of these fancy couches, crouched down besides the desolate god and pulled him into an embrace, and Loki all but fell into his chest, curling into him as small as possible, burying himself into the pliant body of Tony. Being strangely reminded of their first real date years ago, when Tony had held Solveig close to him in an attempt to soothe her fears, he did not say anything besides meaningless sounds at first, just pressed kiss after kiss on top of the curly mess of black hair which he had grown to love.

“Shh, Bambi, I'm here.”

An almost painful tightening of the hands on his sides had him flinch, because for Loki being _this_ out of his normal behaviour was extremely disconcerting.

“Hush, sweet pea.”, he whispered, gripping his god more secure, tighter, shifting them a bit so the taller man could press his forehead into the crook of Tony's neck, melting into him and sag against him. The engineer was more than worried.

Thor still stood at the entrance, not daring to interrupt, ushering out the guards that had been alerted by the ruckus.

Finally, Loki resumed breathing in deep intakes of air instead of wheezing and fighting for every breath. The shivers abated slowly as well, and when Tony brought some inches between their bodies to look into the face of his lover, he sighed, a pained sound for all the hurt that mirrored in Loki's face. His eyes were closed, but it was far from relaxed. Deep wrinkles sat on his forehead, the jaw was locked so tight the human could feel the teeth grind against each other, and the wicked and witty mouth was pressed together in a firm line.

Tony reached for the cold hands on his sides, brought them to his lips and kissed the fingers one after the other, gentle and tender, as he leaned his forehead against Loki's.

“Have you known?”, the god asked under his breath, voice strained and barely controlled.

“Should I have?”

The usually regal face displayed a range of vulnerability that Tony had never seen before, and it terrified him.

“Don't play with me, not you, I could not bear it. I'd die. I simply would cease to be.”, he breathed, broken and shaky, what had even Thor looking as if he already had, a compassionate look of love on his face, blue eyes desperate.

“No, I did not know. I seriously wanted to punch him, though.”

A quaky laugh-ish sound escaped Loki, but the way his hands cramped around Tony's was showing them both that he felt wretched.

“Come on up, or we'll never get away.”

A long and weary sigh wrought itself out of Loki's throat, but he wobbly got to his feet.

“Is this your take on 'Damsel in Distress' or has the Aether worn you really out?”

At last the Trickster opened his beautiful green eyes and looked at Tony. They were red-rimmed, what was not very surprising, and they were guarded to an extend Tony had not seen for years.

“Both, perhaps. I blew out everything I had, and the Stone just took more.”

Thor brought a huge hand up to grasp Loki's neck, the gesture he always used on him no matter the circumstances, and did as Tony had done, bringing their foreheads together.

“Loki.”

“I'm okay. Or I will be. Don't worry.”

 

 

~~~~~~

 

They had briefly returned to the dining room, to fetch Jane and Ásdís. No one had said a word as Loki went to Frigga and took the child out of her arms without looking at either her or the Allfather once, turning on his heel and leaving again, feeling detached from what happened as they went back to their respective chambers.

“We will take the little one for the night. You need rest, brother.”, Thor said after arriving at Loki's doors, and as she was already half asleep in her father's arms, neither Tony nor Loki were much opposed to a night of peace, especially considering the circumstances.

“Very well. Have my thanks.”, the sorcerer condescended, and five minutes later they were alone, falling onto the settee and softly groaning.

“You wanna talk?”

“Actually, not really. Not yet, anyway.”

“Fine with me. Bed?”

Loki shook his head.

“I need a bit of time to sort out this mess in my head. I cannot afford losing it again like this, my time is precious. I have to be careful, or my magical reserves could be burned out in mere days.”

Tony snuggled a bit closer as the words sunk in.

“We'll find a way, right? We don't give up so soon. I haven't had nearly enough time with you.”

Loki grinned, despite the pang of distress.

“We're not giving up. I've survived a millennium with these idiots here, some six months in Yggdrasil itself, and living on a rock somewhere I don't even know where 'there' is, my third encounter with an Infinity Stone will not kill me. I never yield, you should know that by now.”

Tony sighed. And blinked confused after a second.

“Third? When was the third time?”

Oh right – he had not told them yet.

“We've met with the Space Stone. She can bend space to her will and transport any object to wherever she wants. Ring a bell?”

“The Tesseract. The cube is an Infinity Stone. Gods,” he groaned, “that explains so much.”

“It does, doesn't it?”, Loki quietly added.

But then he got up again, and, softly tugging Tony along, he showed him another door, leading to a wide open room that was bar any windows, seamlessly passing into a balcony that proved to have a magnificent view onto the City, the sky, and the Bifröst.

Tony stared a bit dumbstruck at the row of columns, but followed Loki to the railing as he sat down on the chaise longue that was located there.

“I find I am more fit to relax under clear sky. Keep me company?”, he asked, draping himself over the soft cloth and producing a blanket from somewhere in the same action, smiling invitingly, if tired.

Tony grinned at him and did not need to be asked a second time.

“Any more rooms you didn't tell me of? Not bad for a bachelor.”

“As if your own penthouse isn't as big. I am a Prince, have you thought me to share a room with Thor? I assure you, that would have been awkward very soon.”

“What, no slumber parties with big brother around here? I am disenchanted.”

Loki pinched his side softly as they entwined their limbs on the admittedly very comfortable piece of furniture.

Closing his eyes, Loki leaned his head against Tony's, inhaling his scent and relishing in the warmth his husband radiated out to him. His collarbone was littered with kisses, and his stomach was stroked gently, but the ministrations soon faded as Tony succumbed to sleep.

The sorcerer slipped into meditation and tried to bring order to his disturbed mind once again.

Before he would deal with whatever had happened, he needed to get rid of the Aether. Everything else could wait.

 

 

On day thirteen, Loki and Thor asked permission to travel to Niflheim, in order to discuss some things with Hela. But his questions were answered insufficiently, and his bargains did not bear fruits this time. Hela offered him a place in her Realm though, should he choose neither Valhalla nor Sessrúmnir as his final resting place.

They returned with a frown, but Loki had blown off any aggression he could have stored in the fit that eradicated a good chunk of the palace, and was now more focused on the tasks he set for himself than anything else.

The Liesmith thought briefly about getting in contact with Death, but abolished the idea as soon as he noticed what his mind had supplied. He could not risk crossing that particular entity.

Day fourteen was spent again in the library, Now under the conditions to find any useful scrap of information on the Table of Life and Time, as he and Odin sought out the artefact and tried to decode its secret.

It went rather well, considering the circumstances, and Loki was proud of himself for not once feeling the urge to strangle the Allfather. As long as he could detach any feelings from himself while working with the man, they were able to achieve results. That did not mean he would not rant about him once in his rooms again, but for the important part of the day, they could put any disagreement behind them.

When they had worked out a snippet, actually able to help them and fit to alter Loki's lifeforce anew in order to withstand the Aether longer, there had been but one single problem.

Time.

The formula was what powered the apples of Idunn, apparently. But for it to work as it should, it needed time to accumulate and built enough energy to change the body and its abilities. So Loki took the most logical step and threw a question in the room for all to hear.

“What would happen if we let it search a third host, until I am well enough again to take it back? Or anyone else for that matter. It would buy us precious time.”

While Steve and Thor had promptly agreed to volunteer, the Dorky Four and Odin had been against it, and in the following, very heated discussion, Loki had interrupted with the notion that the Aether had actually started to drain a bit less energy off of him, the second after he stated his demand to part with it, meaning it would not be very forthcoming to either of them until he would get Loki back. It felt almost abandoned. Any other host would probably be dead in mere days.

“I fear it likes your energy.”, Odin had said, grave and sinister, and Loki had shrugged.

“It's not over yet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya, a little pre-christmas present - a chapter almost double the length of the two previous ones! Yay :D  
> I don't know what has driven me to be such a dick. I mean, come on, Frigga? I loved her, I seriously adored her, until someone pointed out that she is in fact as hypocritical as Thor and Odin are, too. So now I added to the mix.  
> Perhaps it seems that Loki is overreacting - don't worry, he is not. Remember it being Frigga who was the first to speak with him a year after his "escape"? Well, what does this new info do with this act?  
> Exactly.  
> I will never look at her the same. Shame.
> 
> Oh, and of course Merry Christmas to you all!!


	14. Fading Chimes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three weeks Loki lived with the Aether already.  
> What way to take at the fork in the path? Does he even get a chance to choose?

  
  
There had not been any kind of progress for days now. Acceleration of the Table would need further research and extensive trial and error, and they neither had the needed time nor the resources.  
Day eighteen Loki spent lying in his bed, curled up around his daughter, speaking softly to her, telling her stories of Asgard, of himself and Thor, of Tony, of the stars and the moons and Yggdrasil, watched her sleep and crawl around while his friends and family were searching for a way out.  
On day nineteen, he went on picking at his meals with the fork, but not eating anything substantial. He loomed around in the corridors and brooded, before retiring to his rooms and crouching under his covers to sulk in silence and solitude.  
There was only one thought in his head, and he could not get it out of his head.  
It's futile. I'm dying. There's no way out. I am out of plots. No tricks to save me this time.  
It's over.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
“DABDA.”, Bruce said, on day twenty-one.  
While most of the midgardians nodded in understanding, the asgardians looked at each other, not catching it.  
“It's a model one of your scientists has come up with. It depicts the various stages of grief and how one handles it when faced with untimely or imminent death. Works with other situations regarding loss, too.”, Tony explained. “DABDA is an acronym, using the first letters of the five psychological aspects the one in question will show.”  
“Denial, aggression, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.”, Natasha added.  
“And we're in stage four.”, Bruce said.  
“He asked of me in private to protect you, friend Tony. And my niece. He made me swear.”, Thor stated in a low voice, and the engineer swore under his breath before the no-cussing-rule kicked in and he used surrogate-words that were ridiculously unsuited for this purpose.  
“So what, we're out of time? I'm going to loose him?”, he asked, and damn, if this did not make his heart clench painfully. This was not fair. Loki had been through too much shit to let this end here.  
He could not let him die. He just couldn't. He was Tony's, and nobody took Tony Stark's stuff.  
Not even death.  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
Loki awoke to the strange sensation of Tony shivering in his arms.  
That was odd. Usually, the engineer kicked back his blankets even in the coldest of winters.  
Loki opened his eyes and stared at his hands and arms, Jotun blue, encircling his husband. Then he sighed and withdrew, sitting up and listened to his energy.  
The Aether had leached up what had remained of his magic. His glamours had failed, and even the shrouding spell he had woven was gone. The two feats of magic he did not even need to think about, and which required almost no energy at all, had been extinguished.  
That meant the Aether now actively killed him.  
Well. Time to face his fate for once.  
Loki made his way to the Allfather without being seen. He was used to stealth, even without magic to aid him, and at this hour the throne and its surroundings were blissfully empty. No one knew of his heritage, and it should stay that way. It was his secret to spill, now, should he choose, Frigga had said. All that was known was that he was not their child by blood but adoption.  
When Odin noticed him, his eye widened at the blue skin.  
“Loki.”  
“It has been more than three weeks, Allfather. My magic is gone. There is nothing left. I humbly ask for your help to recreate the glamour that hides my heritage. Not for me, I'm indifferent to it as of now, but for my child. She shall not be told of her father's monster without me being there to explain it to her.”  
It hurt so much, not being able to do anything to stop the Aether. It hurt to have to leave, to abandon both Tony and Ásdís, and it broke his heart to think about all the time they could have shared if not for this unplanned trip. Tony thought he did not see his worry, his despair, masked under a thick layer of energy and optimism, but Loki knew, and he despised himself for deserting him.  
Odin sighed.  
“You are giving up? After all you have survived?”  
“I merely have accepted. I will work on the Table as long as I can, but my hopes are small. I have... matters... to take care of, if all fails. I would have need of the Aesir skin once more for that.”  
The king did not say another word, but did descend the stairs, placing his hand softly on a cold and blue cheek, as he had done the first time he had held him, and Loki felt the blue seep away into the commonly known pale pink, the lie he had lived, and would live again for what would probably be the last time.  
“Thank you.”, he said tonelessly and missed the desperate and pained look the king gave him as Loki turned to go.  
  
  
On day twenty-four, he placed a piece of parchment in front of Tony and Thor, Steve watching Ásdís besides them. He did not say a single word, but there was no need. His brother understood soon enough, yelling an angry “No, Loki, I will not accept that!” at him, before he was even seated again.  
“It is over, Thor. The only thing I can influence now is that it goes with me when it has taken all I have to offer.”  
“Loki, there must be a way!”  
The sorcerer watched calmly as his sibling raged, tears in his eyes and cheeks red from fury. When he finally sat down again, he buried his head in his hands and doubled over in grief.  
Tony had been silent, carefully studying the will Loki had drafted up. Looking up, his face was void of any emotion.  
“Explain.”  
The god sighed.  
“My titles will fall to you, as Ásdís is not old enough to bear them yet, and as you are my Consort. You will be second Prince of Asgard, Head of the dwarven Blacksmith's of Asgard, Chief Warlock, but that will probably needed to be negotiated as you are no sorcerer, and Lord over the northern regions of our Realm. Thor will aid you, I should hope, or you ask the King or Queen for assistance.”  
Bending forward, he pointed to a paragraph, without looking up.  
“These are estates and lands I acquired over the years. Ask Heimdall about their location, he will show you where to go. This one's handling my midgardian possessions, and the last one deals with whatever I may have stored in my asgardian chambers, and what is to happen with the artefacts I have obtained.”  
Fetching a pen from his desk, he gave it to Steve and asked for his signature as witness. He had one of the asgardian scribe, but needed a second one to attest to his free will and sanity.  
The Captain's hand shook as he scribbled his name beneath the signature Loki had given, one in the asgardian runes, one in latin letters.  
“Have my thanks.”  
“How long?”, Thor asked with a raspy voice, deep as thunder, rolling with suppressed anger.  
Tony flinched almost unnoticeable. His brows furrowed a little, not enough to rouse interest, but the not so subtle jitter in his hands Loki saw.  
The engineer sat on them to hide the fact he broke down at that exact moment.  
“Perhaps two days more. The Aether has devoured the magic I could store and replenish, and it practically rips apart my life force as we speak.”  
The Thunderer reeled back as if slapped. The anger had drained from him, now, there just was desolation to him that had Loki involuntarily smile.  
“Come one, brother, it's fine. I had fun. I lived so much longer than any human could dream of, have never known hunger, thirst or need, and I had you. Never doubt that I love you, Thor. Don't break your head over this.”, he said softly, and unable to stand another word, the older one raised and made a beeline for the door, making Loki sigh and look at Steve again.  
“Could you... make sure he's okay? He's had to grieve for me twice now, I don't know what a third time will do to him.”  
“Sure. No problem.”  
He sat down the girl, blissfully unaware, on the floor, and promptly left.  
Tony crumbled down.  
“How can you be so calm? I'd throw a fit in your place!”, he shouted. Loki smiled.  
“You would not. You would drink yourself into a stupor and then pee your suit.”  
The engineer laughed, before his breathes turned into sobs.  
“Loki, I cannot do this. I cannot loose you. I haven't been to Disneyland with you and the banshee. We never had time to teach you how to drive a car. We're barely married for a year, I can't just let you...”  
He did not finish the sentence. He did not need to. The god smiled gently.  
“I do not regret anything. You have given me so much, have done more than you can ever imagine. The years and days spent with you were the most interesting and best ones I had the fortune of living. You gave me hope, a reason to go on, so much security, love, and I have been a better man because of it. You changed me, you saved me, you made me whole again. I really do not want to leave you, or our daughter, but at this point my luck has run out. No more cheating death. The only thing I can do is to make sure the Aether will be gone with me.”  
“Take _me_ with you.”  
“Ásdís needs you. I will not make her loose both of us, even if I would find it in me to hurt you like that.”  
The engineer howled as he tore apart a pillow. Loki calmly watched and made sure he would not disturb the girl, who was used to screaming and shouting by now – Asgard seemed to do this to a person.  
When Tony, too, had burned out his rage like Thor had some minutes earlier, he slumped down again at Loki's feet, leaning his head against slender legs clad in leather.  
“There's no great master plan in action you don't tell us of?”  
“No.”, the Trickster whispered, and his husband sighed and swallowed heavily.  
“I hate you right now, so much I would strangle you if that would not tear you from us even sooner than you're already going to go.”  
“I know, and I don't blame you. I hate myself.”  
“Then let's make your last days here memorable. Tell me what you'd like to do.”  
Loki did.  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
They vanished for the rest of the day and the half of the next, Ásdís in tow.  
Thor had thrown a fit when he could not find them, until Odin had told him where they were, and that they needed the time alone. That it meant goodbye.  
They came to lunch on day twenty-five with sad eyes, but smiling. Loki asked Odin in private if he would bind the Aether to his body and life's core, shortly before it would consume him completely, so that it would be taken to its demise as well, or at least inaccessible for any evil forces.  
The Allfather did not seem happy about that in the least, but relented and promised to do what Loki deemed necessary.  
Sif has been insufferable as always, asking if he would like to conduct the funeral this time around himself in a tone that had Frigga slap her.  
Loki had grinned as he answered.  
“No, I think this time around I'd like somewhere warmer. I heard Malibu should be nice this time of the year.”  
Tony had squeezed his leg painfully at that, but the look he had received back had him sigh and nod.  
It was Loki's way of asking to take him home after...  
And gods, Tony did not want to think of having to arrange a funeral, and for him no less.  
For his Loki. His...  
his... everything.  
  
Shortly after, all went to hell when Asgard was attacked.  
  
  
As the green eyed god had predicted, it had been Algrim, second in command to Malekith, who had obtained the Infinity Gauntlet while searching for the Soul Stone, and now he was back to take the Aether where it belonged – with them on Svartalfáheimr, to bring them reign once again over the Realms, and to take the universe back to Darkness with the next convergence.  
One of their ships came crashing into the palace, and while Tony was busy escorting Jane and his daughter out (damn Loki, what did he think to commandeer him like that?), the yelling increased, he heard Thor shout his husband's name, and when Tony registered the leather-and-gold-clad figure trashing and fighting against one of the Elves was in fact Loki, it was too late for him to react. They dragged him into the ship, powered it up in a staggeringly short time, and vanished.  
Tony did not notice that he ran after the ship as fast as he could, neither did he hear his own voice screaming Loki's name over and over until he was out of breath and blank despair had him fall to his knees as he stared into the sky, in the terrible realisation that he would never see him alive again.  
  
  
Hliðskjálf had been destroyed partly, its magic lost for the time being until it would be restored to its old glory. So when Bruce came to Odin with the brilliant idea to search for them with it, long after the enemies had left again, Thor remembered he had a brain, too, and rushed to Heimdall, set on finding his brother and bring him back again.  
Dead or alive.  
Tony was hot on his heels, Iron Man suit tightly around his body (hey, he never left without that thing any more, not even, or better, more specifically especially to an entire alien Realm).  
Thor was already barking commands at his friend to open the Bifröst when he arrived, impatiently taking in the huge golden dome and remembering the day almost three weeks ago as he had stood here, with Loki on his side, talking science, and his face distorted in pain and anger.  
If Loki was dead, the Elves would not live to see another day either. If they had hurt him, he would hunt them down and make them pay.  
Finally the tug of the path between the worlds sucked them in, and he had barely realized where they were going, or that their friends had arrived as well, Tasha at his side, Clint and Bruce and Steve behind them, his mind was blank, filled with rage, sorrow and agony, a single objective in his mind. Find him.  
They stumbled onto a world so disturbed it could have been out of a movie. Like a battlefield of sorts, blackened soil all around, fallen ships and some sort of airplanes, destroyed and broken.  
As Thor yelled for his brother, and Tony let the transportable light-version of Jarvis scan the area, the others flanked out.  
They had to find him.  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Oh by the Norns. Svartalfáheimr. Of course.  
“Hand over the Aether.”  
Loki laughed raggedly.  
“Over my dead body.”  
Algrim did not even look at him.  
“That can be arranged, asgardian.”  
They had taken advantage of his weakened state. Under normal conditions he would have blasted them directly into Valhalla, but without magic, and sapped of his energy he was easy prey, so to speak.  
And he did not even had time to make good on his promise to combine his life with the Aether. Damn.  
So, what now? As soon as his life was forfeit, the Aether would latch onto Algrim, and when he remembered correctly – he always did, he was Loki – the Aether would work on a completely different level with Dark Elves. Not leeching on them was a great difference, for once. Seeing that the Elf was set on bringing the world darkness, and the Stone had a similar notion, they would be matched very well – he had to make sure they would not be united.  
Loki was shoved out of their ship, and stumbled over the burned ashes that covered the soil. Remnants of the last war, he thought, mementos to death and destruction.  
A hand dug into his neck sharply, and he hissed in pain as his shoulders tensed up before he could control himself.  
That much strength had to belong to a Kursed. He had seen it once, the horrible transformation from Elf to Brute, to Abomination, as they used ancient knowledge and materials to enhance strength and durability.  
“I remembered you to be stronger, Loki of Asgard.”  
“Oh, I assure you I still am not easy to handle.”, he answered almost chuckling, a smirk on his face, and was pushed to the ground in return, his light armour digging into his sides painfully.  
He hated being treated like a rabid dog. But he had not enough energy left to truly fight them. The only option was to gather the small amount of extra magic he could perhaps syphon, hope that the Aether would not immediately latch onto it and use it to braid their energies together so his death would destroy it, too.  
He regretted not saying goodbye. He regretted being so cold to his mother these last days, even if she had just tried to help him. Again.  
He even regretted that he had avoided Odin, not talking to him.  
As Loki tried to draw each last bit of magical residue to him he could find in the surrounding energy, the thing he regretted the most was not holding Tony close for a last time. They had spent the day in the city and the lands, as a family, heavily cloaked by a spell from Odin so no-one would recognize them, and they had a very good time, but they had not shared much physical contact, if just because they had been out in the open, being watched, and it felt as if they gave up something sacred offering their intimacy to any passing stranger. A quick hug and a chaste kiss had been the last act of love they had shared.  
It had not been enough to soothe his fear. He would do, of course, but he really could have used the reassurance he had always felt and learned to trust when his Man of Iron held him close.  
All the times he had faced death, and now he was scared.  
How utterly pathetic.  
Algrim did something that had the Aether thrill, and Loki knew he was out of time. He tried frantically to weave the spell, to bind the Stone to himself, to not let it fall into enemies hands, but there was pain and agony all of a sudden, and he felt the Aether seep out of his core, out of his body.  
No! he wanted to scream, I will not let you go!, but he was too late. As the Aether left him, it took away his awareness, and what felt like the minuscule remains of his life's force.  
Time lost its relevance as he sank back to the ground, unable to move or breathe, staring into the yellow-grey sky with its strangely ecliptic sun, and then nothing.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffie. Ha.
> 
> Dear Sara, this chapter is dedicated solely to you, as you are THE constant reader I can always count on. (Yes, yes, I know, the chapter is awful and you probably hate me now, but hey, perhaps I'm nice ;D).  
> I am a bit sad that the constant flow of your awesome comments has stagnated a bit, as I love to read really any tiny snippet of your thoughts. But I'll take the kudos and bookmarks and hits with pride and thank you all! (I am truly sorry, usually I don't whine like this, but I miss the interaction with the people who read my crap X'D)
> 
> I hope you all had some very nice days in whichever tradition you follow, and I wish you a happy new year because I don't know if I manage to get the next chapter out before the 1st!  
> Seriously, though, you are the best, all of you. :)


	15. Deliverance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony needs to open the Box. Is the cat alive or dead?  
> (...google for Schrödinger's Cat if you are at a loss.)

  
  
When Jarvis had finally found something that was not just earth and soil and whatever this strange World seemed to be dusted under, Tony had almost lost any hope that they would find him again. He was torn between clinging to that remaining snippet and wishing to see Loki once more before he would be gone forever, and the engineer did not delude himself - if even his husband and the apparently mightiest instance in all the Worlds (read: Odin) could not find a way out, then there was no way out. At the end of all this, Loki would not come home with him.  
And fuck, how that hurt. It felt as if Hulk had grabbed his heart and stomped it to mush.  
"Sir, you seem to be crying."  
"Mute. Just display and shut up."  
His other option would be throwing out all feelings right now, burying hope and optimism deep down, and find the mortal remains of the man, woman, God who had stumbled in his way and had somehow managed to turn his life upside down and make it better than ever.  
He didn't know what would break him more.  
The screen in front of his face showed him that Thor was to his right, some hundred feet away, and he copied him, yelling out for his lover, the hills and mountains amplyfying his voice tenfold.  
"Scan again.", he ordered, and his sensors tried to pick up every signal and energy they could find. Jarvis redirected him after working out some strange disturbance in the surrounding output, closer to Thor.  
"If that is the fucked Hammer I'll distribute you to--"  
Lightning flashed.  
Tony's throat went dry.  
Thor had found him. The engineer swallowed. One question remaining.  
If he opened the Box, would the Cat be alive?  
... or would the bottle be shattered?  
  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
Loki blinked. Huh.  
Thunder rolled somewhere in the distance, and he heard his name echoing from the mountain sides.  
Slowly sitting up, he pondered about the fact that there obviously had been a tiny spark left inside him, something that had kindled his life's force.  
Had the Aether spared him on purpose? Or had it made a mistake?  
“Loki!”, he heard someone shout again and grinned.  
Surprisingly, he felt good. More energized than he should feel, really. How long had he been lying on that spot? Surely no longer than some minutes. Even his magic had begun regenerating.  
Anew his name reverberated, this time in Tony's voice, strained and throaty, and, feeling extremely light-headed after he realized that he was no longer on his literal deathbed, even if it was soil and ground, he huffed out a laugh, and another, until he was standing on his feet, smoothing down his hair and dusting off his clothes, before he took some shaky, but long steps into the direction he guessed the Avengers were in.  
“Loki!”, Thor thundered again (he giggled due to the pun, a really bad one, but he could not hold himself back, everything seemed to be really funny at the moment), and after a huge take-in of air that smelled stale and of war long gone, he yelled back.  
“What, you idiotic Brute?”  
And then he had to laugh again as his brother stumbled over the sharp ridge to his right, short of falling down in his haste, letting go even of Mjölnir halfway down. He crashed hard into Loki, bringing them both down again, what knocked the breath out of the sorcerer, but his wide smile stayed.  
“Loki! Brother, thank the Norns, you're still with us.”, Thor said as he propped himself up on his elbows, kneeling over the younger one and trying to make sure he was not injured or otherwise hurt.  
Loki shoved him away in a playful motion, sitting up himself and chuckled.  
“Back off, you moron. Where's the rest?”, he drawled, already so much better than thirty minutes ago. First things first – Loki placed the shrouding spell on himself again, he really did not need Heimdall watching any more. As he wanted to rip off the Allfather's glamour he hesitated. It was... strangely comforting to feel the other signature again. He huffed with a tired and wry smile. How come he had never realized before how different it felt from his own glamours? It practically hit one in the face with how off it was.  
“What has happened? Are you...”, Thor did not go on. He swallowed thickly.  
“So sorry to break it to you, brother, but I fear the collection of liqueurs I wanted you to inherit will stay in my possession for the time being.”  
It warmed Loki on so many levels when hope spread in the powder blue eyes, the blonde crawling closer on his knees, pleading silently to confirm his suspicion. The sorcerer nodded, suddenly sinister.  
“They have taken it from me. We have to find and stop them, but for the moment, at least I am all right.”  
Laughter fell from Thor's lips at that, and another crushing hug was forced on Loki's smaller frame, but by the Nine, he did not mind. Mjölnir was called to the Thunderer, and he raised her in the air, summoning a little lightening to call for their friends.  
Releasing his little brother, Thor smacked his arm once. Hard.  
“Ow, Thor! What was that for?”  
“If you ever die again, I will not loose a single thought on you, do we have an understanding? I will not believe it again.”, he growled, and Loki guffawed.  
“Oh come on now, this time was it pretty close. I know I am able to fool you all in a heartbeat, but even I am not that good.”  
“Three times, Loki. I have mourned for you more than enough.”  
The younger god grinned.  
“Well, I surely hope I won't need to die in the near future again.”  
Both of them sighed, tired of it all, and Thor clasped a hand on Loki's shoulder, squeezing it.  
“This is wonderful news. Mother and Father both were devastated.”  
Strangely enough, Loki believed him.  
Before he could think of what that would mean once they were set on coming home, though, a hissing sound filled the air and the well-known red-gold suit flew over the hill's side, before clumsily landing some feet away from them and peeling away, revealing its creator, an absolute mess of dishevelled hair and red-rimmed eyes, eyelashes clumped together with tears.  
Loki smiled sheepishly up at him and raised a hand in greeting.  
The next thing he knew was the weight that pressed him down (again, really, the ground wasn't that comfortable...), arms around his waist, tight and desperate, and hot lips on his.  
He shuddered in the realisation that this was exactly what he had missed in the moments before he thought he would die.  
Clasping his hands around his husband and pressing him tighter to his body, he kissed back in the same fashion, unrelenting and hard, before the need of air broke them apart.  
Tony leaned his forehead against Loki's and closed his eyes.  
“Was this goodbye for good, now?”, he whispered. The taller man smiled against his lips and placed another kiss on them.  
“Not for the next few millennia, if I have my way. And I always get my way.”  
The grip tightened a bit more, fingers digging into his leathers.  
“The Aether has been taken. I'm fine.”  
The engineer slumped against him and let his head sink into the gods neck-junction.  
“Fuck, thanks. Whatever you thank around here. Thanks.”, he breathed, and Loki cradled his head with a hand and kissed the mop of brown hair that was in dire need of a brush. Soon.  
“I'm sorry.”  
“No, it's okay. It's okay. Don't do this shit again, though, or we'll have a serious problem with each other.”  
Loki laughed and cupped Tony's face to kiss him again.  
“I'll promise to do my best.”  
“Damn sure you will.”  
Bit by bit the others trickled in and were told what had happened once they all had assembled.  
“It is of no use following them now. We have no idea where they have fled to, or what they plan. How long ago was I taken?”, Loki added in an afterthought, just to confirm his own suspicion.  
“A bit over two hours.”  
Oh. Okay, he had been here much longer than he initially thought, then.  
Two hours?  
“Why in all the Realms have you waited so long to follow us? I had thought you would be on their trails immediately.”  
“We... seem to have lost our ability to think clearly for a moment there. And to be fair, the fancy throne was destroyed. We had to use Heimdall to find you, and that took time.”  
How sweet. They had been so out of it because he was gone? It put a smile on his face again.  
“I'm touched.”, he drawled in a gentle mocking, and Tony pouted and pinched him.  
“Come on. This wasteland is depressing.”  
Thor called for gatekeeper, and only seconds later, they were back on their way to the Realm Eternal.  
  
  
Loki was sure it had never before felt so good seeing Heimdall and the golden dome of the Bifröst greeting him any other time in his life. The thought of dying – on his own – in that nornsforsaken Realm of the Dark Elves had filled him with utter terror, and he practically relished in the fact that he once again had somehow escaped his fate.  
His birthright, as Odin himself had said to him before he had condemned him to eternal incarceration.  
He snorted. Would one assume Death liked him for letting him live, or abhorred him for not taking him so much sooner?  
Tony clutched his hand so tight it was almost uncomfortable, so Loki stroked the warm skin with his thumb in soothing and reassuring movements, bringing the appendages up to his face and kissing his lovers back of the hand.  
Thor and Heimdall spoke some words with each other, and Loki saw one of Odin's ravens leave for the palace. He huffed.  
“Are you really okay, Lokes?”, Tony asked gently, and the sorcerer smiled as he nodded. The engineer was still trying to overcome the absolute terrifying feeling of loss he had to endure while Loki had been abducted, and he needed the constant reminder that he was not dreaming. The god indulged him without even thinking about it.  
“Yes, love. I feel much better now. What about you? Are you all right?”, he inquired, worried over his husband as much as his significant other was about him. Tony nodded, shook his head and settled on a confused shrug.  
“Don't know. I'm done for the day. My head's torn between being grateful that you're seemingly not dead and level a city because I'm an emotional wreck at the moment.”  
Loki kissed his hand once more. Tony should not suffer like that because of him. A sigh had him arch his eyebrows, but before he could ask about it, his husband had flung his arms around Loki's waist, head pressed tightly against his collarbone and neck, and with a guilty smile the taller man kissed his head and brought his arms around him, too, pulling him closer.  
“I am so sorry, Anthony.”, he whispered. “I never wanted you to hurt like this. Would that you never had to bear that pain.”  
The head on his chest moved softly in a negative reply.  
“Not your fault. And I'm totally relieved, honestly, because besides the point that you were dying, I thought for a moment I had to let you die alone. I hated that I would not be with you when... If there was no way around you dying, I at least wanted to make sure you would go with me there to comfort you or something like that.”  
The words were soft, but with so much disgust for his inability to offer his spouse this last act of kindness, and it warmed Loki as well as it broke his heart.  
“Hush now, there's no point in thinking about it any further. You were helping me much more than you would believe. I will be forever grateful for that.”  
The sound of grinding metal had him look to Heimdall.  
“I fear the days in which I have to see you again, Trickster.”, he said, the faintest hint of a smile in his amber eyes, and Loki snorted before turning to the Rainbow Bridge, ready to leave.  
“Spare me your pleasantries, Gatekeeper. Keep your watching eyes on the Elves.”  
“They are able to hide just like you. How, do you think, were they able to slip my watch and get into the Palace?”  
The sorcerer stopped walking and turned around with a calculating gaze.  
Heimdall just looked at him, sword in hand, and nodded once.  
“The king is searching for a counter as we speak, but another skilled sorcerer with knowledge on the matter would surely simplify matters greatly.”, he said.  
Thin lips curled into a smirk as Loki watched the man who had always despised him, and who now so openly begged for him to help.  
He did not say a single word in return. The Trickster just tightened his grip around warm fingers, belonging to Tony, and dragged him onto the crystal, leading into the City.  
He had no doubt he would be asked to support Asgard with his knowledge on the Dark Elves, not just on the matter of their well-conducted hiding, but on their skills, weaknesses, and what else Loki could provide.  
For once, everyone knew he was their sole chance.  
How hilarious.  
Tony bumped their hips together and squeezed his hand.  
“What has you smiling, Sweet Pea?”  
“Oh, nothing but the fact that they will need to rely on me – again – to sort out this mess. They'll probably butter me up like some slice of bread to secure my aid. It will be hysterical.”  
The engineer grinned.  
“You'll let them dangle, I hope?”  
“You know me so well.”  
  
  
Seeing as they had no horses this time around, and not all of them could fly, the trip into the palace was awfully long and was headed through some very busy streets and market places.  
Clint began to whine about sore legs somewhere between the middle of the Bridge and the first place they crossed, and Natasha bickered with him about it the remaining time, what had the rest snickering. Loki made a quick detour to a salesman and bought some bread and cheeses for his friends, intended to be eaten straight away, remembering that the attack probably had cancelled lunch, and it was currently early afternoon.  
The poor man stared unbelieving at the Prince as he packed up the food. Thor grinned brightly and wandered off to another stall, glutted with fruits, and he, too, was stared at.  
“Brother, they have strawberries! Would you like some?”, he yelled a Loki, who rolled his eyes and took his purchases and thanked the salesman, still not believing who had been in front of him just now.  
“Take some grapes, green ones, if you must.”  
“Actually, take some of the strawberries, too, Point Break!”, Tony cut in, and Bruce added some apples to top it off.  
Languidly sauntering towards Thor, Loki looked around with an uninterested gaze, taking in the people who watched him. He had heard some of the rumours about his return, absurd beyond believe, and they had probably seen with own eyes the attack on the palace, fuelling their doubt about him even more. When he had been in the City this past month, he had been on his own, mostly with Tony, and that had been frowned at already.  
Now, however, he dared to taint their Crown Prince and his comrades with his presence, the traitor who had thought to be above the rule.  
Oh well. Simple minds. He smirked and dropped off the bread and cheese in Steve's arms, before inquiring about some of the other fruits. Not unlike bananas and kiwis, but richer in their taste, sweeter, even. Ásdís would love them, as she would be able to eat them even without teeth, as mushy as they were.  
Eerie silence filled the street as Loki asked if the fruits were polluted somehow or if it would be okay to feed them to a babe.  
He huffed and rolled his eyes again.  
“This is getting old.”, he muttered. Glancing around, he let a malicious grin split his skull, and offered a single “Boo!” into the crowd that had the people shriek and flee on the spot.  
Loki broke down in hysterical laughter as he watched the panic arise, his humour so hard that he had to wipe tears from his eyes as he tried to contain himself. While Thor, Steve and Bruce gave him disapproving stares, Clint and Natasha watched unfazed at their surroundings. Tony grinned as the first guard appeared, sword drawn and pointed at the sorcerer who still chuckled madly.  
“Brother, why in the Nine Realms do you insist on alienating yourself further from our people?”, Thor asked, annoyed at his antics and motioned for the guard to lower the weapon.  
Loki smirked.  
“Our people? Thor, they were never ours. They're Odin's, Frigga's, yours perhaps, but never were mine. Just look around you! They fear me, they are scared of me, even with your presence outshining everything else – the monster returned, to steal away the throne again.”, he sneered.  
His brother frowned.  
“Surely you do not think yourself as that still. You are my brother, my friend, Loki, and their Prince.”  
“Even if I do not – they do. They cower as soon as my name is spoken. Have you heard the rumours? Let me indulge you – apparently I am here to lull you into some sense of false security, just to kill you while you sleep and usurp the throne once again. Or, better yet, I was told of someone who saw me stealing a child, barely half a year, without doubt to sacrifice it to a master I serve. Satisfied yet? No?”, he asked, all smile gone now, only bitter resentment left in the realisation that even the sacrifice of his life had not changed the public opinion. Oh well, nothing unexpected then.  
The salesmen came back when they figured out there was no imminent danger, and more guards had arrived, but they more or less just held back the people who wanted to cross the place as Loki spoke.  
“Then let me tell you about myself, Thor. I heard I was a monster – no one knows which race I stem from, I could be a Dark Elf, or a son of Surtr, sent to bring Ragnarök. Really popular around your people, Brother, is the idea of me being a Frost Giant, as I am apparently as dangerous and vile as them. There is no respect given to a Jotun, not even if he was claimed by your golden family and raised as a prince. I am resented, not because I am a Liar, and a Trickster, or ergi, argr, whatever they may have called me before, but because they fear me being a creature they do not understand.”  
His words were scathing, he knew that, even as he spoke them with a calm voice, carefully not appearing more interested in the rumours than he should be. It irked him not all that much, Loki had always known he had no trust amongst the Aesir, so he had no concerns of spitting their words back into their faces.  
Another smirk lit up his face as he looked around in all the eyes, the fear, the loathing, the hatred and disgust for what he was.  
“Look around, Thor. These are the people whom we both protected with our lives. Yet they love you, and detest me. They have their fun in gossiping about me, so let me have my fun with them, too, before I decide to play pranks on them as I do on you.”, he drawled and turned back to the fruits, his magic scouring any traces of pollution and finding nothing. Leaving a coin that would pay the price double, he took three of each and nodded to the palace.  
“Come on, I need to feed the slug.”  
“Gods, she'll be cranky as hell for missing lunch.”, his husband groaned.  
Oh, Loki absolutely loved the confused looks they were shot. Was it time for another rumour?  
Yes. Yes it was.  
“Then let's go. I don't want to be devoured whole. Next one on the list would be you or Thor, and I believe she would not take kindly to either of you feeding her.”  
Tony grinned at him as they walked, already in the game.  
“She's downright scary when you're away. I almost lost my hand a few days ago. She's all sharp teeth.”  
Natasha and Clint tried to contain their snickers.  
“Not to mention her tries to deafen us permanently. One sense down means a lot less defence against her.”, the archer added, hand shoved in his pockets as he followed them.  
Thor grumbled.  
“I do not like how you speak of my niemmmmph--”, he started, but before he could utter another syllable, Tony had pressed his hands on his mouth, frantically looking around.  
“Do not say her name – she can hear you, you know. Never utter her name aloud.”  
Not that he liked to make a monster out of his own daughter, but this was fun, and as Loki knew the resident Aesir, idiots, the whole lot of them, she would be seen as the devil's spawn whatever they told them. Either that, or she would be pitied to be fathered by the monster itself. Lovely options, both of them. Besides, he did not plan to stay here longer than necessary. They would go home soon.  
Wait. Loki arched his brows and looked at his brother.  
“Where did you go with her in the first week?”  
That had to have prompted questions. Suddenly, the Prince was strolling through the City with a child? Had there not been some gossip regarding that, too?  
“We have ventured to see the gardens, and the lands. There might have been a circuit to the stables and the smithery.”  
Armour. He knew it.  
“She was a very feisty thing that day. Whomever we came across, she scowled at them in a manner very similar to your own.”  
A proud smile settled on Loki's and Tony's lips as they tried to picture the little girl giving the mean eyes to the common peasant. Perfect.  
“How did you introduce her?”, the engineer wanted to know interested. They had not spoken of the day earlier, it just had not been that pressing to know, as long as they had fun all was good.  
“To whom?”, Thor asked confused. “I have not been asked about her besides how old she is, after being told that she is the cutest and most adorable girl in the Realm, which she is.”  
By Yggdrasil, that was becoming better the longer he talked about it.  
“Then let me tell you that the child I was seen abducting seems to be your love-child with Jane, born out of wedlock and therefore kept secret for the time being.”, he chuckled loud enough to be heard by the whole marketplace.  
The Prince staggered and spluttered.  
“What? She does not even look like me!”  
“She shares your lungs. That's more than enough to convince anyone who gossips of her parenthood.”  
A growl tore itself out of the Thunderer's throat as he crossed the place with long strides.  
“Five minutes with her would be sufficient to negate that fact.”  
“Yes. But who has seen you so long with her? Besides the Smith's, of course.”  
A grumble was his only answer.  
That was really hilarious. His daughter – love-child of Thor and Jane. Wait till he told her.  
“Of course, the rumour was all but kindled by Mother's devotion to the babe. I heard it been spoken just the day before yesterday.”  
“But the servants of the palace have seen you with her! I myself introduced her as friend Tony's daughter!”  
“Nice take on that.”, Tony answered, having heard from Loki what that all was about. “We're supposed to be the surrogate family. You know, so that you're not shamed by a child without being married. Stupid notion, really.”  
Thor's frown deepened.  
“How do you know all this?”  
Loki shrugged.  
“Oh, I listen. Immensely interesting what they come up with, has been a favourite pastime of mine for centuries. So, Brother, ready to take on your child? We have missed her usual feeding time three hours ago, and I am loath to admit she will be hell to work with now.”  
“I will not be called father of your daughter, Loki, for all the love I hold for her. I have no right to claim such a gift like being her father.”  
Tony groaned due to the awfully cheesy words, but Loki had gotten what he wanted. Several gasps and muttered words he heard from the strangers on the side as they made their way to the palace, as Thor had officially ruled out his fatherhood, destroying one rumour – if the people were inclined to believe them, that is.  
And he had clearly stated who was the parent of the sweet baby was in truth. (So much for the fun starting another chitchat.)  
Ha. Take that, Asgard.  
“I am Uncle to Ásdís Frigga Stark, no more, and certainly no less. Any person who tells otherwise is a liar.”  
And right on cue the familiar wailing of their daughter made itself known as the royal couple, Jane and Ásdís were storming out of the palace and in their direction, short of running.  
“We told you to never say her name out loud.”, the sorcerer joked to his Brother.  
Before Loki could take the crying girl out of Jane's hands, however, his mother fell into his arms and he froze.  
“I feared I had lost you once again.”, she said, tears in her eyes and a gentle smile on her lips that he just could not return as easily as he had before.  
“I am fine.”, he replied, and a particularly shrill shriek from the girl had them part, as Jane handed her to him, clearly desperate.  
“I could not get her to calm down.”, she said. “She's been crying since you were gone.”  
Despite the staring – they were still outside the palace, curious people all over were watching them intently – he shifted his hold on Ásdís so she was leaning her head against his chest, heart under her ear, and she calmed down instantly, just a little sniffling remaining, tiny hands fisted in the softer parts of his outfit.  
“Hush now, princess, all is well.”, he whispered and kissed her head, gently carding a hand through her hair as she looked at him with big eyes full of tears, and his conscience piped up with the notion that he really had taken his time to come home to her.  
“Forgive me, my sweet one. I will not leave you again.”  
She babbled something between a syllable and a sighing sound, still looking at him and sniffling. Tapping his still low magical energy, Loki created a soft illusion of butterflies and orbs that always fascinated her and held her interest for a long period of time, smiling down at his daughter without realizing that he was in plain sight for everyone to see any more.  
By the Norns, he never wanted to miss a single heartbeat of her ever again.  
He was scared out of his wits (and out of that bubble he obviously created when dealing with his daughter...) when Thor boomed in his loudest voice.  
“Whomever calls him monster again will have to answer to me personally.”  
Interested in illusions as long as her uncle did not make a ruckus, it seemed. Ásdís turned her head to the Thunderer and giggled in glee as she recognized him, arms flailing, so Loki changed his hold on her again, the girl now propped up on his chest, her head on his shoulder, so she could see and turn her head more freely.  
“Yes, Dearest, it's Thor. Well done.”, he praised her with a chuckle and made his way over to Tony.  
“The next time I loose control so blatantly I expect you to rescue my pride, Stark.”  
“Oh come on, it was like a Disney-Movie. Nothing puts the villain down like a little girl with eyes like that.”  
“Villain? Am I a villain again?”, Loki snorted amused.  
“That vaguely depends on what you do now.”, Tony said, smiling like a lightbulb as the girl in his husband's arms stretched out a hand and squawked a “Da!”, in his direction.  
“Dead on, pumpkin! I'm your Dad!”  
She repeated the sound some more times, happily sucking up the positive response she got from her parents.  
Somewhere between her enthusiastic babbling, Loki found himself again so enamoured with Ásdís that Tony could sneak up a kiss to him. And not a proper chaste one at that.  
Eyes going wide, he tried to back away some inches, but the hands on his neck kept him where he was – lip-locked with his husband. Under the watch of not only their friends (what was awkward enough), but his brother, King and Queen of Asgard, and what felt like half the population of said Realm.  
This really was not how he wanted to be pictured by them. He would rather be feared and than be seen as the utter picture of sap...  
Oh, the hell.  
If he truly wanted, he could still pull off the Jotun monster to shut them all up.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh dearies, I apologize to be so mean to you, but seriously, how could you ever think I would kill him off? ;)  
> Thank you all for your wonderful comments (though I feel as if I had somehow blackmailed so many of you into commenting X'D - worth it...)!!  
> This chapter's special thanks goes to Aly1998. Dear, you're as much engine as Sara, and I love your comments :)
> 
> But of course I love every single one of my readers, and I hope you'll stay with me for the rest of this second monster of story. And this time for real - have a Happy New Year and we'll see each other in January :)


	16. Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back with the living, Loki still has some unanswered questions - we'll tap that well as of now.  
> What have Odin and Frigga to say? Let's heard their side of the story.

 

 

Dinner that evening was strange. Somehow, there was a lot more joy in the room than before, and simultaneously, it was bordering on unpleasant. They were joking lightly with each other, even the Dorky Four were almost friendly towards Loki, which he did not buy at all, but enjoyed. The god tried hard to hold back the emotions he had stored away two weeks earlier, to not let them break free now at all times, without having had time to think them over first.

Ásdís was happily munching her way through the fruits he had obtained, as Loki thought she would, making the biggest mess ever on her place between her fathers.

“You'll eventually have to eat it, daughter mine, you could as well start now.”, Tony drawled grinning, but the girl just yelled another “Da!” at him and squished the poor remains of the Asgardian kiwi under her palms. Loki rolled his eyes at him and let his magic clean her (she was not at all impressed that her plaything vanished and glared at him – somehow she always seemed to know who exactly stole her interesting things. Clever child indeed.).

“Behave yourself.”, he scolded softly, before turning to his own dessert. And hesitated.

Apple strudel. A silent sigh escaped the sorcerer.

Damn. The implication was not lost to him. Frigga had made it herself, and she _knew_ that he never had missed out on it. Eating it was like admitting he could never not see her as his mother.

Not that he wanted to cut her out of his life again.

But she had _lied_. To _him_. He could not. It hurt, almost more than the words the Allfather had spoken. The lie over his apparent adoption aside, this one had been so intent on casting him out, and getting him back with some soft words after when he would do everything to get back to her – it was as close to a betrayal as it could get.

Loki took a deep breath and pushed it aside. He had to decide what to do before he could make any definite adjudications regarding that information.

“Brother.”, Thor hissed under his breath, and the younger one shot him an annoyed look.

“Do not dare say anything.”, he snarled back as quietly as he could.

Neither Frigga nor Odin said a word as the table was cleared, even if they were bound to have noticed his usual lack of gusto.

Instead, they looked oddly understanding, in an off-kilter sort of way. Hurt, yes, but not blaming. A strange mix of emotions, and Loki had never seen them melted like that ever before, and surely never directed at him.

“Loki,”, the Allfather said, softly, but despite aiming to not disturb the other conversations, it quieted down instantly.

“I would very much like the chance to talk to you again. As would your mother.”

Of course. The Trickster did not lift his eyes from the dark wood of the table, idly playing with the deep incision he had sliced into it earlier that month.

What could he do but agree? He needed to hear the full story. The whole affair bit at him, tore at him, and he needed it to stop. He could not function, could not be the father he wanted to be if there was always some other thing on his mind.

Let it break him or heal him, but let there finally be an end.

Eyes wandering up to meet his brother's, seated across to him, he acquiescented.

“Not today. I will come to you myself, when I feel properly prepared to deal with whatever lie I have to hear next.”

“Loki-”

“This is my offer, My Queen. Take it or I will leave and never return. Not even to you.”

 

 

“Need time alone?”, Tony asked after he had put down Ásdís to sleep, searching for his husband out on the balcony, deep in thought as he gazed up on the stars.

“No. I'd like to have you near.”, he answered, scooting over without actually moving too much, and the smaller man cuddled close to him on the chaise longue, head tucked in under Loki's chin.

“How upset are you really? Scale's zero to ten.”

“Honestly? I cannot decide between five and fifty.”

Tony snorted.

“Five? What, anticipated something like this?”

Loki growled and threw his head against the backrest.

“The longer I think about it, the clearer it becomes I was lied to from the beginning, right from the start, and it never stopped. A thousand years thinking to be a rightful prince, only to find truth at the hands of a _Frost Giant_. Returned to be disowned, left to rot in a dungeon, and now I hear this, too, was a ruse. There is no truth in either Odin or Frigga.”

“Now slow down a bit, Rudolph. Your Mom did break you out, didn't she?”

“What if I had decided not to escape?”

“Hey, I'm not saying you're not right, I just want to put my two cents in. They fucked up, and in some gargantuan dimension which had you fleeing into enemies arms – my arms, you lucky sod – but perhaps they had a very twisted reason to do so.”

Silence. Then-

“I will speak with them tomorrow. Until then, there will be no words about it from either of us.”

“Whatever you want, princess.”

A small grin spread over Loki's face as he lazily stroked his lovers features, hands slowly gliding lower.

“Right now, I want affection. A lot of that.”

“Mmh, that can be arranged.”

Clothing rustled. Tony knelt over the god and kissed him, pinning him down, setting his pace and forcing Loki to go with it. A moan escaped pale lips.

“I will have you now.”, he whispered, his voice a lusty mix of husky and needy. Tony groaned and pressed their groins together, earning a sharp intake of air from his husband.

The hard body beneath him shifted into the curvy and pliant female one, pressing another groan out of the engineer as long and lean legs were wrapped around his torso. Tony grinned against the soft skin on her throat. Had been a while for them to go at it with Loki female.

“You know”, he panted, nipping at the soft flesh of Loki's neck he had exposed seconds earlier, “I will never see this like before ever again.”

Peeling her out of the loose green tunic and soft leather pants, Tony leaned back against the backrest, skidding out of his own clothes in a hurry, and pulled Loki close to him, hands at her hips.

“Like what?”, she purred, grinding against his hardness, pupils blown wide. He closed his eyes in pleasure, fingers wandering over her sides, tummy, breasts, in silent adoration and worship.

“You're a goddess.”, he hissed as she sank down on his cock with a sensual moan. “I don't care that you'd deny that up here, or that you're just dubbed God by us measly humans,” - a hard thrust upwards that had Loki scream hoarsely - “you're worth so much more than being a mere Aesir. And you have made a sacred temple out of this already very worship-worthy body by carrying my child.”

Pressing into his wife another time – getting a real nice shudder out of the soft, warm body – Tony sat up straighter, right hand guiding her hips back and forth in a gentle rocking motion that always had the sorceress whining for more in almost no time, left hand supporting her back and pressing her to his chest so that he could kiss her in the clear attempt to show Loki whom she belonged to.

Not Frigga. Not Odin. Not even Asgard. Especially not Asgard.

She was his. His alone.

A sound that was suspiciously close to a mewl had him chuckle breathlessly into Loki's lips.

“Desperate?”

“Prick. _Move_ already!”, she grit out, lacking the needed leverage to get the friction herself, what with being held so close to the other body, feet slipping down the sides of the cushions whenever she tried to lift her body.

“Your wish is my command, _my goddess_.”, Tony breathed, kissing her again as possessive as he could before snapping his hips up against hers, eliciting another needy moan out of her throat.

He grabbed her behind, and stood up as Loki locked her arms around his neck, lips hot on his, turning them over and draping the woman on the chaise lounge, hovering over her, looking at her.

The Trickster's breath was heavy and fast as she captured his gaze with wide eyes.

“What?”, she panted, boldly swinging her legs behind his ass. “Go on!”

She needed him to move. Right now. As in, she would certainly do this on her own if Tony would not do it soon.

“You're breathtaking. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Actually, there are no words to describe how dazzingly beautiful you are. And I love you so much I cannot stand the thought of being without you a single second.”, he whispered to her lips, slowly moving with her. “I'll never let you go. You'll be never alone again.”

And she believed him.

 

“You'll not get pregnant again so soon, will you?”, the engineer murmured sleepily, caressing Loki's hair, both of them still stark naked.

She chuckled.

“As long as it has taken the last time, I am pretty sure that fate will not grant us another child on the first try. But I'll humour you.”, the sorceress said and shifted back into her male counterpart.

“There. No womb your seed could take root in.”

“Brilliant.”, the genius mumbled. “Actually, I wouldn't even care that much.”

Three seconds later, he was out like a light, softly snorting.

Fishing for the blanket, Loki made sure that the spell he used to watch over their daughter was still in place, and laid himself to rest, smiling at the thought that his Anthony did not even try to actively prevent another conception. Pepper would have a heart attack seeing him like this.

Well, perhaps some years from now.

 

 

Loki positively took his time to let Frigga and Odin know about his consent to meet with them the next day. It was almost afternoon until Tony could blackmail him into it with embarrassing stories he told Thor, who repaid him with tales of their youth that were horrible and a torture for the sorcerer, so he yelled an “All right, I get it!” and had a servant relay a message for the Queen and King, scheduling a meeting for the early evening.

“Norns be damned, I would never have married you had I known you to be this evil.”, he growled, but Tony just grinned brightly at him and looked proud of himself.

“Of course you'd have, Sweet Pea, you know exactly what honour I have bestowed on you by asking you to marry me.”

Thor laughed as Loki groaned.  
“You need to return to Midgard, you start to sound like me.”

They cackled even more, forcing a smile out of Loki. Oafs, both of them.

“I just want you to get it over with. You have been hurting because of it far too long already. Any more delay and I fear you get back all your insecurities, and you have done so amazingly until now – it just is not worth loosing yourself again. Don't run. Please.”, Tony said softly, making him sigh.

A hand patted his shoulder, and the Trickster looked up to see the gentle blue eyes of his brother regarding him with a silent plea.

“I know you feel betrayed, and you do so by right, but please, try to understand them. At least give them time to explain whatever they thought to achieve.”

The smile slipped from Loki's lips as fast as it had grown. Explanation was the sole reason he had not yet fled for New York. He needed to understand.

“I will not make a promise on something I do not know I will be able to hold. I will try, though. Perhaps this time around I'll know if they lie to me.”

Third time's the charm, or how the saying went. Thor sighed, but did not force him to oblige any more ideas of his.

He felt awful as he went to the chambers of the queen. Her garden was likely to be the only ground he would not explode on if anything out of the ordinary happened (oh, whom was he kidding, this practically was as normal as it could get by now, Loki thought with bitter grimness), and it was one of the few places which were highly unlikely to be overheard.

Loki did not need to have this conversation in public.

They already awaited him, and as his stomach sank into his boots, he cursed himself for coming alone.

Frigga raised from her seat and came over, clasping her hands around his, squeezing them before he could muster up the strength to withdraw.

“I am so glad you came, dear.”, she said, eyes moist, her gaze a gentle caress that almost made Loki sick with the weight of what he had to decide.

“I need to... to draw a line under this whole affair.”, he answered, and was still not sure what way he would turn at the end.

“Then come, and ask.”

By Yggdrasil, he was nervous. Slowly sitting down on the third, empty, chair, he stared blankly ahead, even as the Allfather threw him a inquiring look.

It was silent for a while. Leaning his chin on a propped up arm, fingers idly playing with the skin around his mouth, he thought what to ask about. There was so much on his mind, so many questions, so many loose ends, a myriad of possibilities, and the urge to throttle someone.

Okay. Step away from any homicidal thoughts. Usually does not end well.

“When would you have told me?”

Odin sighed and Frigga frowned. Hardest question first, well done, Loki. Answer? Never, he presumed.

“When the hatred and jaundices against the Jotun would have not been as carrying as they have been, and are.”

That was as close to never as it could possibly get.

“We were scared what your reaction would be.”, Frigga added. “You always loathed them on a whole other level as Thor or the Warriors, there never had been the right time to break it to you.”

Loki snorted.

“Well, you did a remarkable job installing that hatred in me, did you not?”

“And we made a grave mistake in that, I'll admit.”, the Allfather said. “But centuries of being enemies have made the opinion of the Jotun rather stable and unwilling to change. A sudden change in our own reasoning would have been overly suspicious. Had the people gotten scent of your heritage, they would have scorned you – or worse.”

Scorned him? Was Odin truly that blind even with his good eye? Scorn would have been something to wish for.

“Because the Aesir have been so forthcoming with their heartfelt love for me.”, he scoffed. “Do not think I ever was favoured as Thor was. I was like the silent shadow of doom trailing after him.”

Frigga shot him a stern look.

“Do not use that tone with us, we are still your parents.”

Oh, right. There had been that small issue. Letting his gaze rise to one of the trees, in full bloom and stunningly lush, Loki intertwined his fingers and leaned back.

“Are you, now? How strange. I seem to remember being cast out of your merry little family. There's a faint memory of being called 'Laufeyson' somewhere between being threatened with execution and a promise to be sent for eternal imprisonment.”, he drawled, trying to stay calm despite the burning disappointment that rose in his chest. He never had dealt well with resentment.

The Allfather grumbled.

“I know you, Loki, any attempt to elucidate both our actions would have been met with malice and rejection from you. You would have fought against it, and you have, if my memory serves me right.”

Had he been left another chance? How else could he have defended himself? Never would he beg to a man who had ceased to love him aeons ago.

“There was but one action for me to pursue, and that was to get you out of Asgard, and into a world where you hopefully would find more happiness.”

It hurt more than Loki would have anticipated. But why? It should not feel like being gutted all over again.

“Any punishment you could have doled out without robbing me of the only thing I clang to.”, the sorcerer whispered faintly, as he finally understood why this whole farce had him feel so betrayed.

“I only ever wanted to belong somewhere. Granted, I probably would not have believed a single word from you, but perhaps I would not have felt as if execution by your hand would be a kinder fate than to assume I only ever was a pawn and tool for you to use when you saw fit. The monster you kept as a pet.”

“My sweet boy.”, Frigga breathed out, almost a sob, and Loki felt her understanding what ailed him under all the anger and hatred. “Sweet Loki. We never wanted you to feel unloved. You were _always_ as important as your brother. And you certainly are _no_ monster.”

He wanted to believe her words, he really did, but the betrayal of too many lies stopped him before it could happen.

“Even if that would be true, I am still the problematic second child, always different, so unlike the others.”

Odin snorted, a lopsided smile on his lips as he twirled his beard.

“You were _never_ the problematic child in the family." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I seriously love you.  
> So. Much. Feedback. *drool* I must have made something right, and it was the perfect way to say Good-Bye to the last year and welcome the new one! My year is already 24 hours old, I hope you had a great countdown and a wonderful transition from 2013 to 2014! It will be a very thrilling year for me, and I hope you have one, too :D  
> No cliffie this time, just a convenient break, the next chapter will start exactly where we have left off here.  
> See you later :)
> 
> PS.: Oh gods, I wrote smut. I am ashamed and embarrassed.  
> Edit 2.1.14: PPS.: Realized I should set the work to "Mature" now. Oops.


	17. Decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part two of that decidedly overdue talk.  
> It's not perfect, but it's all they have.

"You were _never_ the problematic child in the family. Your brother filled that position well on his own, even with your mischievous tendencies and your ongoing thirst for chaos.”

Loki stared at him with barely disguised confusion. Too baffled to respond, the Allfather had time to close his eyes in remembrance.

“Thor was rash where you were controlled, and he used to claim his rights and wants where you were timid and modest. He had us in more trouble when you were children and adolescent boys than you could ever imagine.”

Frigga chuckled as she, too, remembered and pointed to the thick, high wall that protected one side of her large gardens.

“The Norns may have mercy, but his ideas always were prone to failure. It was his, and our, great luck that you were clever enough to outsmart anyone who tried to fool him.”

Gosh, it felt surreal to be praised like that. It had been centuries since Loki had heard words like that.

Nausea hit him. Centuries. _Centuries._

“I assume it was a real hardship for you to acknowledge that, seeing as you never told me before.”, he croaked out, and silence followed his words. He did not dare try and lift his gaze from his slightly shaking fingers. A ragged breath escaped his lips as the Trickster tried to add something, anything, to spit out how hurt he had been – still was – by the blatant lack of approval for anything he had achieved or done.

“I have told your Anthony so, and I will admit it to you, too, if you will hear it. Turning blind to you has been the most severe mistake I have ever made in my life, in all likelihood. And this includes every accolade not given when deserved, earned, or needed, as well as failing to see what I took from you with the intention of freeing you from this place.”, Odin said with grave voice.

Loki froze in the chair he was seated in, as his brain toppled over with the intend to understand the words.

“Understanding came to me too late to mend the hurt I had given you. Thor had always needed the attention and basked in it, while you shied away from it, and the logical conclusion was to let you be and hold back.”, he said softly, sunken into himself.

By the Nine Realms, _that_ had been the reason for ignorance and abandonment?

“...not wanting and not _getting_ any sort of recognition tend to be two very different things.”, he muttered into his fingers, once again propped up to his chin as they traced his lips in jittery tension.

Odin nodded his head once, a deep and heavy sigh forcing its way out of him.

“You have taught me that lesson quite thoroughly. I apologize, Loki. It was not my intention, was never my goal to let you feel as though you would be a lesser man to your brother. Both of you have a special set of skills, unique to all the Realms, and I should have praised you for all your finesse and tactical abilities that more often than not have saved you both, as well as your prodigious mastery of your inborn seiðr. I am sorry.”

It felt like the most honest words that had ever left his lips. It still hurt like hell, though. There could have been so much pain averted if the old king just had seen his errors before.

Loki would have perhaps never needed to sneak in these Giants... scratch that, Thor still would have been expected to be crowned, and Midgard had truly done him well. But Loki surely would have never felt the need to forfeit his life, he would not have fallen into the Void, Thanos and the Tesseract would have never gotten hold of him, Midgard would have never had to bear his hatred and anger.

He would have never met with the Avengers, and therefore would have never met with Tony.

Loki swallowed heavily.

Ultimately... ultimately not a single thing was worth changing if the outcome would differ.

Pressing two fingers of his right hand to his temple in search of the pressure points Thor always seemed to find instantly, he fixed a tired look on the Allfather, who gazed back in the same manner.

“I had to die first for you to come to that conclusion?”, Loki asked weary.

The king unconsciously copied his stance, rubbing at his forehead with closed eyes.

“Would that you never had felt so lost that your life was a burden, my son.”

“With nothing to gain there was nothing to live for. I was the enemies', the monster's get, had failed to earn your affection and love, there was no one who would have me for _me_ , besides your wife, and even her I had disappointed with sending the Destroyer after Thor. I was desperate, I thought to escape. I did.”, Loki said, dark words spoken with a hollow voice as he remembered hanging from the bridge, in need of gratitude, of acceptance, of approval.

“No, Loki.”

He reeled back as if slapped. The Trickster's heart sped up until it almost burst through his chest, a sudden tightness in his lungs that impeded breathing. Eyes wide, he found Odin's sole one staring back into his.

What? Had he missed something? Had this, too, been a ruse, to cosy him along, giving him a false sense of security? Frigga would never be this cruel, she was - 

She had lied to him, too, though. It would only make sense to cut off any ties to him. He was not cut out for them. He had no place here. This was - 

“Never think you unloved. Never believe any of us would love you less for whatever madness we helped create. My words had more effect than I wanted them to carry.”, Odin continued, effectively blanking out any feelings Loki might process.

... he really wanted to believe him. But brain and heart were disagreeing.

“You will forever be our child, Loki, and we will never waver. You are our precious nestling-”

“Nestling! I'm barely five years younger than Thor!”

“- and nothing will change that.”, Frigga closed her statement, but a smile curled her lips upwards at the outraged exclaim the sorcerer had thrown at her, and who now looked as if he had swallowed a lemon.

A very, very sour lemon.

“I have understood what you try to implant. It will take a lot of time to actually process it, though.”, he murmured.

And it would.

Even if he some day from now could believe them, what Frigga had done had blown away all trust he had for her. She had double-crossed him, had deceived him, had taken advantage of his broken heart, and even if he loved her so much it hurt, and knew her to love him back in same measure, trusting her again would be so very hard.

Presumably a lot harder than trusting Odin again.

“I hope that you may someday forgive me my failures.”, the Allfather said softly. “But I am not fool enough to hope it will come within a fortnight.”

For a second, Loki thought carefully about that. Forgiveness? They had forgiven his transgressions, or they had at least acknowledged his reasons and were ready to not judge him any more based on them, so how could he hold against them theirs? If they spoke truth, their actions had been born out of love and concern, poorly executed perhaps, but of genuine affection. At least, the staged trial and following break-out had been. And some part of Loki was grateful for that chance they had made possible.

“But being forgiven is not the real matter at hand, is it? It is not a question of forgiveness, but of trust.”, he stated, and Frigga's smile took on a afflicted hue. “How can we trust each other of so many years of lies? How can you trust me after I disappointed your believe in me? My brief ruling was filled with wrong decisions.”

He took a deep breath.

“How can I trust you to not... _do_ this again? What do I know, perhaps I am part dwarf or a quarter human, anything is possible with me, after all, I am a damned Frost Giant that posed as Aesir Prince of all the things in the Realms.”, he snarled, half-laughing to hide his panic. “Or may I assume Algrim was in truth hired by you so we may reconcile?”

It was cruel and nasty, but he needed to be clear on his fears. This time, there would be no chance he'd take.

Odin sighed.

“We had that coming.”

And Frigga resolutely added “No more lies, child. None.”

A few minutes later, after more reassurances, and without intending to, they had started to recapitulate his brief instance as sovereign, and Loki would have never in his life thought it, but if they really did speak the truth, there was little disappointment for his actions. The short-notice try to destroy Jotunheim had roused some anger, as it seemed that genocide was not 'in' any more, and perhaps Loki felt a bit bad for this rash decision himself. After all, he had never been as fond of battle as Odin or Thor were – with all that entailed.

When he conceded this, he was met with a sigh and another pat on his hand.

“You show more compassion than many others. Hold on to that trait.”

And, a second later, and much more quiet, the Allfather added “Had I known I would hurt you like this with these two letters, I would have remained silent until you were safe once again, until Yggdrasil was not waiting to swallow you.”

“Perhaps I would have not met the Titan. As I already felt alien to my own home, though, I doubt we would have gotten the ground back under our feet. By that point, every word would have damaged more than it could possibly heal.”, Loki answered equally quiet.

“Perhaps.”, Odin nodded gently. Another sigh.

“You were right to deny the Lady Sif and the Warriors Three. Mayhap your words were not right for them, but it would have been too soon for Thor, to see, to understand what he had done. His friends and Heimdall did not only break your trust that day, but that of their Queen as well.”

“Have you had them sanctioned? Thor seemed quite cross with me as I mentioned their treason.”

Frigga snickered softly.

“I have ordered the stable boys to leave as soon as they arrive – they had to muck out the stables for the whole year before we found you again if they wanted their horses tended to.”

Oh, good. Trust his mother to find a way to punish them without them really noticing, a prank almost.

“They have complained multiple times, I assume? Sif has long ago given up to care for her steeds on her own.”

“Naturally the problem did not solve itself. It did them well. It helped that Sleipnir was not as glad to have them around so often.”

Loki grinned. Very Amusing. The giant horse could be annoying to no end – neighing without stopping, chomping at the bit, snapping passing people... the list was endless.

Then he chuckled as another question hit him.

“So is this the reason for Heimdall's contempt towards me? I assume he knew about my heritage, I have not been able to shield myself from his watch before I outgrew my first armour.”

The Allfather shrugged.

“It may be. He never told us. I believe he is highly annoyed with the fact that the small babe I carried home has been able to avoid his eyes before his age hit the double digits.”

A snort wrought its way out of Loki's chest as he thought about it.

“There has to be more to that.”

“Yes, well, he absolutely _hates_ not being able to keep his gaze on anything he wants.”

“So much that he broke his oath to the crown? Truly? Thor has the amicable skill to assemble loyal goons all around himself, I see.”

“To be fair, you did open Asgard's gates to an enemy that cost two men their lives.”, Odin said, and somewhere under the serious features there lay a notch of not-judging that.

“I did not. I merely showed them where to search for a connection, which I closed as soon as they had made their way here, by the way. Really, it is akin to a wonder that I seem to be the only one who ever came across these paths. They are practically everywhere.”

A pointed look from both his parents had him roll his eyes and stifle a groan.

“Yes, I admit that he had perhaps a tiny reason to be wary of my intentions towards the Realm. It was not my most perfect plot, but I worked on short notice and a tight schedule. He still committed treason and attacked me with the intent to kill.”

Frigga patted his hands softly, and this time, Loki did not even think of withdrawing them.

It felt good, despite his wariness and carefully guarded feelings towards her.

“Many things went very wrong in a ridiculously short time. Before we could fix what had broken, we lost you to Yggdrasil, and the Titan. It opened our eyes how forsaken you truly had been, you, who have ever been strong enough to overcome anything the fates gave you.”

“The only thing that had ever mattered to me had been taken away – robbed of my objectives I was easy to mould into what ever Thanos wanted me to be. Sadly, our visions overlapped greatly. We bore a monster together.”

Now, not only his mother squeezed his hand – the Allfather, too, reached out and hesitantly, aiming for his free appendage, and his was still as frail and prone to break every minute as Loki remembered it to be from the occasions where he had lain in sleep, protected by nothing but his wife and the crude plans of a desperate child.

Despite all that, though, the hand emitted strength and energy, power, and Loki would do well to remember that this man was far from being the old man he was to the eyes.

“No child raised under your mother could ever be a monster.”, he said, and the sorcerer huffed out a laugh as he thought about the words she had said to him after what had felt like an eternity of solitude and absence of her voice.

“I've been told.”

And by the Norns, and by Yggdrasil, or whatever, he was so sick of mistrusting them and holding them on arms length, missing this part of his life. They had made effort to ease and disperse his fears, worries, and accusations, and had even given to him what he had missed all these years.

It would never be as before, but none of them harboured illusions of them hopping back in time and resolving everything, getting back into some crazy sort of happily ever after family.

He would take his distance, though. This... _mending_ would not be rushed, and if he had to wait decades for the emotional wound to heal. Another lie Loki would not be able to weather.

“You have grown so much in the last years, and it just adds to my errors that you have done so while so far away. I am very proud of the man you have become, Loki.”, Odin said, and broke almost all resolutions the younger god had set for himself.

Almost.

“That... actually means a lot.”

Frigga let her eyes wander over his face in search of more truths she could charm out of him, letting him squirm a bit in unease.

“Are you happy?”

Was he? A small smile tugged on his lips and crinkled his eyes as he thought about what would await him once he returned to his chambers. Gentle brown eyes full of love and little hands reaching out to him.

“I would fall a thousand years and go mad a hundred times over if, in the end, it would lead me to Tony and Ásdís.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sweethearts all around the World, you are stunning. It is such a huge honour for me to log in and see such staggering numbers of Inbox-Messages like you provide me with!  
> Thank you all so much, you can't imagine what these do for me :'D
> 
> On another Note - I think more often than not over adding some short-scenes, more or less "outtakes" that are stuck in my mind but not... urgh, _important_ enough to actually throw into the Story itself. Would be a separate installment in the Series, short chaptered, and perhaps you have some ideas yourself that you'd like to see written out. I've had some, and have received comments with hilarious and funny ideas, and I'd like to work them in. So, if you have a - I'll call it prompt, whether it is one or not XD - prompt for me, don't hesitate and I'll try to fulfill it!


	18. Asgardian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Concluding the talk.

 

 

It had been almost too late for dinner when they adjourned their meeting and left the gardens, in search of his friends and family.

“One last thing, my son.”

... was it strange that this little word somehow shifted his entire view of himself into another perspective? Probably. Did he care?

Well, a bit. Loki long had given up on defining his person on other's claims on him. Besides Tony. But it still lapped up some of the venom the constant lies had spread. It soothed.

Curious though, what the man wanted, he turned his head around and cocked an eyebrow up.

Anew there was a twinkle in Odin's eye. Loki smirked. Wait till he brought up the first set of Harry Potter to them. He never had realized how Dumbledore his father was.

... old habits die hard, it seemed. _Father._ Gah. Stay cautious, Trickster, he told himself. Do not fall again for him so soon.

“Any attempt we made to convince you of obtaining a weapon like Thor had you dismissed. Was this true, or did we turn a blind eye on you once again with assuming that you did not want one?”

A clever question indeed. He shrugged.

“I made it a habit to enchant my weapons – after meeting Mjölnir I had learned how ill-tempted magical artefacts can be, and therefore was very content with the most plain ones. I had no need to show off like him. I have seen your effort to win me over, but I really did not want it.”

A half-smile graced the king's lips as he nodded softly.

“Then I have made the right decision in not sending your brother out to the dwarves. It probably would have ended in a diplomatic catastrophe.”

A choked laugh escaped the Trickster and his mother at the same time.

“Oh, there is a lovely tale about me and the dwarves in Midgard, betting my head for some of their finest trinkets. I should bring a copy of the Edda. It is most amusing.”

“Oh please, refrain from it – these horrid stories. Whomever came up with them should be ashamed.”. Frigga scoffed.

“He's long dead. Really, really long dead.”

She snorted, but did not answer. Odin placed a hand on Loki's forearm, effectively bringing him to a halt without saying a word or even actively holding him back.

“I do have a weapon, though, for you. Not now, perhaps not even in ten years from now, and not made for you like Mjölnir was for Thor, but treasure and tribute to your proficiency nonetheless.”

Now that had Loki really curious. Mustering the king with thinly veiled interest (he really should work on his facial features, it was a shame what the Avengers had made out of his masks), the sorcerer wanted to know what that was about now.

“Please do enlighten me.”

The Allfather smiled at him in his usual way – benevolent if he thought he was, prompting the Trickster to roll his eyes.

“I would have given it to you once Thor was installed as king, and it has been my intention ever since you first chose your weapons.”

Please let it be the Eternal Flame. Loki had craved that one for far longer than anything else. Granted, it was no real weapon, more something like the Casket, and imagine all the fun things one could do if the two items were _combined_...

“When I resign, Gungnir will be yours.”

... huh?

“Pardon me. What?”

“You will carry him with dignity, I am sure. He is sigil of your ancestors, may they be of blood or not, and of the loyalty you have proven to your Realm. Your brother would never be able to tame him.”

What?

“Gungnir is an imperial insignia.”, he said cautiously, as if breaking sad news to a cuddled child.

Odin smirked at him. Giving the Spear to him would practically chain him to Asgard's throne, be Thor seated upon it or not.

Asgard would _have_ to accept him. How... ostentatious. And clever.

“And thusly a fitting companion for a man who was born to be a king, even if he should decide a throne would be too much trouble to be of worth.”

Oh. Norns. Really?

“Warming up old words, are we now?”

“You wanted to be Thor's equal – you will have to hear the same words I have spoken to him.”, the king said, and Loki recognized the jesting tone easily, courtesy of his moth-- Frigga.

Gungnir. The spear that had been crest and crown since Bor had risen to the throne even before his victory over the Dark Elves. That made up for what, six thousand, seven thousand years?

“Do not look so shocked, Loki. You will have enough time to come to terms with what is inevitable.”

“The last time I came near that thing I killed Laufey and bandied with Thor, what lead to the destruction of the most useful invention Asgard ever made, and then I fell into the darkest pit of the universe in an attempt to kill myself – and you think it will be a good idea to trust me with it again.”, the sorcerer stated, just a hint of sarcasm edged into the calm and reasoning voice.

“There will be no confessions beforehand this time around, no war to avert if Thor continues to behave like he has in recent years, and certainly no more Jotun kings to slay for you.”

“This is madness, Allfather.”

“You have conquered this ailment before. I would trust you to prove worthy of him any second – I will not change my mind when the time arrives to pass him down to my second-born son, when the first-born has to decide whether or not to ascend to the throne.”

_Decide_? What, was Thor given a choice now, too?

“Give me one moment to catch up, please. When – _if_ Thor _chooses_ to become king, he will not be wielder of the insignia connected to the throne for aeons now, but me. I will accept that because frankly, Thor and Gungnir are as ill-fitted as me and order, and he has Mjölnir to guide him.”

Odin nodded. Frigga – quietly having listened and eased them to walk while they talked – beamed.

“What if he chooses _not_ to become your successor?”, Loki asked, and by the Nine, the matching smiles on his parent's faces filled him with unease and foreboding of dark times.

“If that is the case I will have to ask my youngest to fill his role, even if he has never shown great interest – Thor's brother would have made a good king, despite his inability to sit still for more than some minutes if he saw a chance to spread mayhem, which, to be honest, was always vastly amusing.”

It took Loki quite a few seconds to force his mind into working order again, and by then a coy smile had etched on his features.

“Then I hope your first-born to be reasoned with, for the second-born resents the very notion of having to sit through any more meetings with the buffoons of the council without turning them all into chickens.”

Only when his mother smiled brilliantly at him before kissing his cheek, and Odin resumed walking towards the dining halls after a quick squeeze to his arm did Loki notice what concession he had made.

Crap.

His skills surely were going slack.

 

 

Clint and Tony were busy playing Peek-a-Boo with Ásdís when the three entered. The rest was engaged in a discussion over technological differences between Asgard and Midgard, at least as far as everyone could follow, and the table was already set and loaded with meats and fruits, ready to be consumed.

“Brother! Finally, we are starving!”, Thor boomed as he spotted them, making them all snicker.

“The Norns may have mercy, we cannot have our crown Prince go hungry, now can we?”, Loki smirked as he and his parents made their way over to their respective seats (somehow there had been a clear seating from the start, whenever they ate together).

“Hey Sweet Pea, crouch down for a moment, the slug has learned a new trick!”, his husband called out to him before the god could sit down, while he turned her so she could see her mummy-daddy-mix and give him a happy squeal.

“Really now? What does she do?”, Loki smiled back and squatted down, arms resting on his knees, eyes fixed on his daughter.

Clint then let her grasp his fingers in a tight grip and lifted the girl to her feet, and albeit very wobbly, Ásdís stood almost on her own, and with a little help made six to eight shaky steps in Loki's direction. He stared at the trio in bafflement as the child grabbed at his hands after wriggling out of the archer's grasp, grinning brightly and toothless at him as she fell to her knees and promptly began to chew on one of his fingers with glee.

The sorcerer chuckled.

“Darling, after crawling you should learn how to sit, not skip that and turn to walking straight away.”, he chided gently and with soft adoration, getting back something that could be the syllable “ma”, “da” or even “ga” in a repetitive manner – with a finger in the way it was rather hard to distinguish – before he scooped her up and eventually sat down on his place opposite to Thor, who grinned proudly at him.

“She made her way over to me three times already! She will be running around in no time at all!”, he said.

“Excuse me, but isn't that a bit early? I mean, she's barely eight months old...”, Jane threw in, but Bruce shook his head.

“Perfectly normal for human children. Some of them are able to walk without help with nine months, some of them will let themselves be carried around until they are eighteen months – it really depends on the child, and this one is rather active. I believe she will learn how to use her legs in a few weeks now that she knows how to stand.”

“She is asgardian – her development will surely be a tad faster than a mere humans.”, Frigga said, what had Sif and the Three grumble.

“Half human and half Asgardian, is she not? Or do the rumours carry some truth after all and the girl is half Jotun?”, Fandral muttered, what had Loki smirk in a dangerous and provocative way, teeth bared. Tony answered.

“Not that it would be of your concern, but she is, in fact, fully asgardian.”

“How? It's impossible! They are mortals!”, Volstagg exclaimed outraged, eyeing the Avengers suspiciously. Tony grinned and winked at him.

“We had a little help with that condition. But Shhh! Don't tell anyone!”

Sif stared at him with indignation, trying to make sense of his words, and suddenly looked at Loki again with that gaze full of loathing. He rolled his eyes.

“You used the Table.”, she accused him of, swaying between surprise and smug satisfaction that she finally had found something to pin onto him.

“Another thing that is none of your concern – I had absolutely nothing to do with it.”, he drawled and eyed the food. He was getting hungry himself now, too.

“I admit I have played with the notion, but the conduction of the endeavor would have taken more time and risks than would have been worth the trouble.”

“Now that really hurts, Bambi.”, Tony snorted, earning a grin from his husband.

“Aw, you know I love you.”

Clint groaned.

“But they do raise a valiant point, dear – you still were pretty much human when she was conceived.”, Loki added, almost in afterthought. “She should not be...”, he snickered, “ _a pureblood_.”

“Introducing you to Harry Potter was a huge mistake.”, Natasha drily stated as the Aesir looked at the chuckling group without understanding.

“I may have given her some of that mush we made out of the remaining apples. We did not directly touch it, so I figured it would work.”, the engineer admitted, “actually, your Mom told Thor to relay the message, as we had not thought about that solution, and I, um, just went with it? Sorry, slipped my mind with the whole shebang here.”

“That would explain her raised energy that I felt, at least – I already thought my magic was off the last month, what with the Aether and consorts. Next time you feed my daughter life-altering substances without speaking with me beforehand, you will join the Pirate-Club, though. Do I make myself clear?”, the sorcerer said calmly, and Tony ducked minutely. “You are lucky we have talked about that sometime before.”

“Let us eat before Thor keels over from hunger.”, Steve butted in, and the majority of the group did so with a chuckle.

“So, how did your little chat go?”, the engineer asked while filling his plate and gleefully watching the sour looks the Dorky Four sent them. Loki chuckled.

“Oh, as usual – threats were made, we screamed a bit at each other, almost were at each other's throat, made promises of early demise and I think I have promised to lay waste to Asgard in the next five years.”

Jane and Sif choked on their bites, one from laughter, the other out of surprise over that blatant threat to the throne.

Frigga frowned a “Loki!”, while Tony did not even blink.

“Nothing to worry about, then.”

They sniggered softly to each other, before the Queen cleared her throat and stared them down. The Trickster groaned and rolled his eyes.

“Come on, anyone who knows me should realize the jest. Jane knew exactly how to take my words.”, he complained as he was chided at, and after a second Thor laughed.

“You truly have spoken with each other then, and not only exchanged biting remarks as you have before?”

“Yes, Thor.”, Loki told him annoyed.

“What conclusion came you up with?”

“You're an oaf, we will sack you, and I will have to accede your position as Crown Prince, ultimately leading to me being king again. Finally, all my plots have played out as I always wanted. I knew it would pay off to live among my enemies in the long run.”, the younger brother listed calmly while feeding his daughter pieces of fruit and bread to help her with her itchy gums, curling up one side of his mouth after looking up again and snorting at the incredulous expression in his brother's face, whereas the Avengers and Jane erupted in laughter.

“Now, Loki, please do attempt to behave, at least.”, Odin said with a sigh, receiving a highly innocent look.

“But of course, Allfather.”, he said meekly, only betrayed by the vast amount of mischief that glittered in his eyes as his friends tried to stifle their amusement. Thor sighed and smiled at him.

“Have care how you speak to me, Trickster, else I will have to teach my niece how to sneak past you when old enough.”

“You would not dare.”

“Would I not?”

“You yourself were never able to, how will you show her?”

“Have I not learned how to fool even you in the last years? Surely I may prove able to help her keep her secrets from you.”

Loki sighed dramatically.

“Bullied into silence by my own brother, future king of nine Realms. What has the universe come down to?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, my schedule is pretty crap now, but we have only two chapters left, and they will be posted withing the next week, probably Friday/Saturday and then Monday/Tuesday. Thank you all for your ongoing support!! :D


	19. Loyalty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What will Asgard say, now that Loki is alive again?

 

 

Lying in bed that evening, a softly snorting Tony cuddled to his side, head tucked under his lover's chin and one arm possessively flung around his middle, Loki was unable to find any sleep. His thoughts whirled from one topic to the next, one emotion chased the other, and he was filled with agitation, just short of unease.

They had slipped into the past that evening, despite being surrounded by people who had never been present before, had played along to memories long gone, to an unblemished façade of a family that had not existed since Thor's failed coronation. Perhaps not even before then.

Strangely, it had felt good. Normal, familiar, and it had given him hope that there truly was something akin to peace found even in Asgard, something he could look forward to when he thought of the Realm that had made him uncomfortable for so many years.

Something he could be proud of showing his daughter, and talk about without constant bitterness and disdain.

He sighed quietly and fixed his gaze on the sleeping man at his side, totally relaxed and pliant against his body.

Six years ago, Loki had lost all believe in people when Odin had dejected his actions and had been so mentally deranged that living on with that shame and disgrace had seemed like torture and cruel punishment.

And now?

Somehow he had learned to like it again. Courtesy of Tony, each new day was a gift, something exciting, something he looked forward to conquering.

Loki still was very wary of the Allfather – and his mother, too, after the latest outburst of information – the hurt of being neglected for so long was far from being soothed with a single afternoon of kind words, and Norns, Loki loathed calling himself neglected, as he _had_ been given attention, but somehow the right actions and words at the right time had missed. And the fact that they had lied to him about his adoption, of course, was not cleared at all in his head and heart. It had almost killed him – let him kill himself.

Not even beginning to think about the whole disaster that had unfolded after Thor brought him back in chains and muzzled like some rabid animal.

Still, being claimed as son again was... relieving, in a way. It made him feel as if the years he had lived with them were not completely wasted. And that he was appreciated. Not only being put up with, but _wanted_. At least, he sincerely hoped that his instincts did not fail him in this.

It was more than he deserved, perhaps. But he would not be himself if he would not take it despite that.

“Heard about that stunning invention called rest yet? It's fabulous, you should try it.”, Tony mumbled into his neck and pulled him closer, sleepily searching for more snuggling. The sorcerer chuckled.

“And that coming from you, Mr. I-can-totally-spend-three-days-in-my-lab-without-a-break.”

“Between you, Pep, Tasha and Bruce there is no way I am allowed there longer than a few hours any more. Now shut down the thinking, I can hear it over here.”, his husband said groggily and had drifted off again before his head had stopped shifting.

Oh yes, he'd definitely take everything this life had to offer, if that meant feeling so mind-boggingly happy even with a potential war boiling somewhere in the Realms.

 

 

“Brother!”

Loki was awake instantly, shooting upright while scanning his surroundings for any potential threat that would make Thor need to yell like that in the early morn hours.

A groan from besides him had the god look down, belatedly noticing that his sudden movement forced Tony into an uncomfortable position of crossed limbs and a crooked neck.

Slumping back into his pillows, Loki grunted softly and cursed the Thunderer under his breath as colourful as he could, and his husband chuckled at that, after resuming his place, half sprawled over the lean, pale body of the taller man.

“Friend Stark! Wake already, you have missed breakfast, and there is to be an assembling under my Father soon! I have let you sleep long enough!”

“Make him shut up.”, Tony whined, curling into Loki's side and burying his head under the sheets.

“Would do, but missing breakfast means we have overslept hugely. Ásdís must have made a proper riot, and somebody was here to care for her if my spells have not alarmed me.”, he yawned, admittedly grateful to whomever had taken the duty.

“You mean Thor has been waiting for us to wake up for hours now? Thor? He's as patient as me when I have an idea.”

“What do I know, I'm no psychic. Let's get up and see for ourselves.”

Tony mumbled something unintelligible when he was forced to leave the bed, but did so nonetheless and opened the doors while stretching.

“Finally! Brother, are you well? You never slept that late before.”, Thor inquired after they both had entered the anteroom where he waited, his niece sitting on the floor and concentrated playing with her wooden blocks, at least until Tony picked her up to kiss her senseless, wringing out a radiant giggle.

“You should know, being the one who never could rise before almost being too late for everything.”, Loki drily stated, but Thor did not react to it besides smiling brightly.

“Have you not been alerted to the council's meeting this noon?”

“Apparently not, else I would have risen earlier. Or not, seeing as I am not keen on meeting with any of these idiots ever again.”

Thor pouted at that, clearly having assumed the talk Loki had shared with Odin and Frigga the evening before would have him stay longer and attend his duties and privileges once more.

Well, he was in for a surprise, then.

“I'll assume the others will be attending, too?”

“Father had them invited.”

“Then let's go. We would not want to let the Allfather wait. I have no desire to be noticed any more than I already am.”

Tony had their daughter propped up against his left shoulder, her head high and interested as she was able to look behind him – at the moment that meant Loki, and he would never tire of her face, bright green eyes so like his own, still with that now dark-brown ring around her pupil', full of trust and love for him, making his heart melt when she babbled a relatively clear “Mama” at him.

Tony groaned.

“She's getting the hang of this alarmingly fast, Rudolph. I always thought children are a bit slower than that.”

Loki snickered in answer.

“What did you expect? Asgardian children are faster in their growth and development than human babes, not by much, but remarkably enough. Speech and motor functions will manifest sooner, and with you constantly talking to her I am not surprised at her sudden vocalisation.”

“Unfair then that she chose to say 'mama' first.”, he pouted, making both Loki and Thor laugh.

“Ah, I understand your distress, darling. You feel loved less because of it.”

“Does this count as 'mucking up' already?.”, he grunted, but was visibly mollified when the girl rested her head against Tony's neck, hands patting down on his shoulder, trying her luck at “baba”.

“You know she adores you, Tony. You're a terrific father.”

“Stop schmoozing me. I never know when you lie.”, the genius grinned and winked.

Chuckling, they walked deeper into the palace, down to the throne room. The sorcerer sneaked a glance to his brother and sighed.

“Full regalia? Really? What does he plan?”, he muttered.

“I do not know. He insisted I be in full armour, but did not tell me if you should do so as well.”

Snorting, Loki changed his attire magically to match his brother's level of formality, exchanging the soft leather he had chosen to wear to the heavy garb he last had worn as acting regent. It felt a bit suffocating. Oh well, at least his helmet was gone, lost on Earth after being smashed into marble.

That thing had always been... _heavy_.

“Appearing in less than that would certainly diminish my influence and power, and as I was practically forced to return to the living, I will not pass up on the opportunity to reclaim my status and all that comes with it.”

“Always take everything you can.”, Tony agreed, one hand softly stroking the back of his daughter, who still cooed syllables out with no clear intention to form words.

“Nothing less I aspire to.”

Arriving at the side entrance, Thor cautiously looked into the room, already buzzing with chatter as it had been a month prior.

“Seems like the whole City's here.”, the engineer joked, kissing his husband when he was waved nearer by Frigga with a happy smile. “See ya later, I think.”

“Oh, this reeks of a public statement from the Allfather.”, Loki sneered after Tony had left to stand besides Jane and the Queen, Ásdís squealing happily at them.

“Come on, brother, whatever Father contemplates, we should probably play along.”

Curling his lips in a smirk, Loki nodded.

“I despise being paraded along, unlike you, but it seems I have no choice.”, he said as he saw a servant appear on the other end of the hallway they just came from, bowing curtly and beckoning them to follow him, to the main entrance, Loki assumed.

He was proven right, of course, when they were led to the thick and heavy double doors. Thor grinned at him.

“A proper entrance befitting the Princes of Asgard, do you not think so?”

“I will get my pleasure by looking around and see the disbelief in the faces of Asgard. This whole scheme screams 'Dare to defy either Thor or Loki and I will end you' in the Allfather's voice, and I so do look forward to that.”

 

 

Never before had the room been this silent, not even in the final moments before Thor spoke his vows to the throne. As the brothers walked the long way to Hliðskjálf , all eyes were fixed on the younger one.

Loki held his stance as he always had – proud, confident, head high, gaze firm, steps easy and sure. A wry smirk had settled on his lips, and his eyes glinted with amusement as he returned the wary looks and the disgust that mirrored in their faces with ease. It was hilarious.

“A month has passed with you both returned to your home.”, Odin opened the... whatever it was, Loki was not overly interested.

“Once again we need to work together, to fend off the threat of Algrim and the remaining Dark Elves that were able to flee in the aftermath of the last war. I am glad to see you both here with us, the proud and strong men you have become, the fierce warriors and true friends you have shown us to be.”

Short of rolling his eyes, the Trickster let his gaze wander over the assembled Avengers, Frigga, his napping daughter (what had Thor done with her to be this tired?), the Dorky Four (who looked grumpy, and that made Loki feel so much better at once), and the people all around – Tony had been right, it really looked as if the whole city had been invited – then why in all the Nine Realms had he been the only one left to ignorance? The smirk left his face as his brain supported the sorcerer with a broad array of ideas as to why the Allfather (and his Moth- Queen, too) had chosen to throw a party and had not thought of inviting him to it.

Letting the words wash over him, (he was not interested in the words spoken before an audience, they tended to be false and full of lies) Loki scouted the surroundings with his magic, expecting to find some sort of barrier to keep him from leaving early, or a spell that diminished his powers and abilities – perhaps even something to keep him from doing _anything_ at all.

A minute frown settled on his face, mirrored by Tony who just happened to look at him – then, Natasha noticed and lost her cheery attitude in an instant, shifting her weight and suddenly appearing more of a soldier than any other person in the hall. Loki's smirk returned.

All seemed to be as usual. Okay then – he would play Odin's game for a while and be on his guard nonetheless.

“My words bore you already, Loki?”, the voice rung out to him, stern on the outside, but amused if one could read the fine nuances of the Allfather's speak.

“Do excuse me, my king, I found the praising of prowess always a most tedious matter. I shall refrain from appearing bored to tears from now on.”

Thor elbowed him hard in the ribs, annoyed at his brother's inability to be serious even for something as formal as this meeting.

“Are you sure it is wise to antagonize him and the people now of all times?”, he muttered, but all Loki returned was a snort and a grin. He had never made an attempt to hide his loathing for all the dry affairs of the state, especially if it lasted for hours on end, the only means of heightening his mood being sarcasm, pranks, and well placed words at the right time.

It would do Asgard good to remember that. They wanted his help?

They had to obey his rules.

“Well then.”, Odin said and raised from his seat, bringing Gungnir down once with an echoing clank.

Oh, now that seemed to prove interesting. A standing Odin always promised an act worth of his while.

“Asgard has lost a Prince to Yggdrasil and a Mad force who used my son for his own gains. Returned to us in the hands of his brother, we failed to see what lay underneath. Fleeing his punishment, Loki returned to help us against the threat of Malekith and his brood, and seemingly lost his life to save our Realm. Asgard lost its Prince again. The Realms lost their most skilled sorcerer, a clever warrior, and a man who was able to bewitch Death with his silver tongue.”

Loki cocked up an eyebrow as Tony snickered. Bewitch Death? How... interesting that sounded. Certainly more interesting than what had happened in reality.

Not that he minded the boost of his adventures.

“For the deeds you have done on Midgard you would have been sentenced to make amends to the ones you have wronged, without the use of your magic, and under the steady watch of Thor. As I see, you have done so without knowing. Shying away from your magic, using it only to help your friends and family in time of need, protecting what you sought to destroy, while in constant contact with your brother – You have done well, Loki.”

And that would have been the official pardon. Nice. Just rub it in a bit more – Loki wasn't such a bad guy, dearest Asgard. Ha. Shower him with praise, just to see the Aesir gag with disgust.

“It is with joy and happiness that we may see him at home after all that has happened. May he be welcomed in Asgard, by us all.”

The Trickster could not hide his amusement any longer. That was an order, sugar-coated and honeyed, but command from the king and therefore non-negotiable. It would drive the court insane.

He cherished the very notion.

“Loki Odinson.”

“Stark.”, Tony butted in, adding an annoyed “What?” when he was shot diverse scathing looks. “Midgard, people, really. We're married, we're sharing a name, use it, for Pete's sake.”

“Loki Stark, then.”, the Allfather relented. “Prince of Asgard, son to Queen Frigga and me. Will you accept your duties as they have been before? Will you help defend your Realm and your people, and will you do what is necessary to protect those who are in need of protection?”

Thor turned his head, expression overly expectant, eager to see his brother returned even in Asgard.

Norns, Loki almost was breaking under the pressure of not cackling out loud. A look up to his friends had him realize that Natasha and Tony knew exactly what would happen now.

“I so do swear, Odin Allfather.” he said with a smile and glittering eyes.

“I am glad to hear that. Asgard will be safe from any harm if my sons vouch to fight for it.”

The smile grew. Shuffling one foot on the floor, Loki looked around and registered the expressions on the faces of Asgard. The court was relieved, as a matter of fact – they knew as well as anybody that he was a precious asset in any fight, his knowledge benefit and advantage.

Time to crush them, then.

“I did not swear my loyalty to Asgard.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So guys, one last chapter after this one and "Point me t'ward tomorrow" is finished.  
> ...is this a good time to announce the third part, that has already 50k words and I have Ideas for at least 20k more?  
> Does anybody still _want_ to read more? (...the really overwhelming flood of comments has given me the impression, but hey, I'd rather hear it from you!)  
> If yes, prepare for a shitload of fluff - again - and... ah, well, let's just see.
> 
> You are the best readers a FF-author could wish for, and I am constantly amazed by your words and the many nice things you say to me! It's like a warm shower of love <3


	20. Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki's loyalty lies with...?  
> Burning with the need to return home, he reaches out to Asgard like the nice Prince he is...

 

 

The silence was so loud it was almost deafening. Thor's smile fell from his face in a blink, as did the benevolent look on Odin's face. Frigga sighed and closed her eyes briefly as she understood what that meant, while the whole court stared at him in lack of the same.

“Did you not swear to defend your Realm only seconds ago?”

“I did. Asgard is not – and was never – my Realm. It is not my home, either, and its people matter to me little more than fleas. Always be careful of your words around me, I tend to twist them to my liking, as you should know by now.”

Murmurs broke out, and some outraged whispers reached his ears, and it sounded like the finest tunes he had ever heard.

This was so much better than watching them bow before his corpse. So. Much. Better.

“My allegiance lies with Midgard.”

Shocked gasps and outcries were heard – who would ever think that Loki himself would claim the Realm of mortals for himself? A quick glance showed him that Tony was as amused as he himself was. Good.

“The Realm my husband stems from has shown me more acceptance and forgiveness in mere months than I have ever known from your subjects, Allfather. They are worthy of the protection I may give them, more so than any wretch of Asgard will ever be. You and your Queen granted me my titles once by adopting me, and you have taken them once. Yesterday you restored them to me anew – and I would be a fool not to make use of it. You know better than any other person what I would have given up to prove worthy to your Realm-” _I have died two times for it!_ “- and due to that I will claim my rights before the court now, so that the whole of the Realm Eternal may hear and curse me for it. I am Prince Loki, younger brother to the Crown Prince of Asgard, and for that I _will_ call in the due respect.”

Suddenly the grand, open hall was full of noise, the Aesir revolting upon hearing his words.

It did not faze Loki in the slightest. They were not whom he sought to please.

Better yet, he was not finished.

“In order to show my good will to you, though, I may be inclined to aid you. What is Asgard and its king willing to offer me for my help?”

The noise intensified, and all three – Odin, Frigga and Thor – looked at him utterly shocked and not at all as if they had anticipated something like this.

Really now, they should have known. Asgard owed him. Big time. And he was ready to collect.

This was his nature – it was what he did. Surely it was no stunner.

One of the Council Members stood up, enraged, and quite red in the face – it did not suit him well, but it was too funny.

“How dare you, Liesmith? You have deluded and deceived your king, your _family_ , attacked a Realm barely able to defend itself, and now you wage to force respect out of us?”

Loki tugged his lips up in the sharpest and most wicked way he was able to (what said a lot, actually), full of glee as he saw the man shrink back as he was touched by the raw magic and power Loki radiated.

“Oh, but neither have they been my family at that time, nor was Midgard as defenseless as you make them seem. Give me one good reason why I should assist any of you. To put it frankly, history shows how valuable you all have seen me and my advice – dismissing it outright every time does not make me feel rather generous now. I doubt that has changed much in the last decade. Then there is of course the miniscule matter of your strong, proud warrior sons you encouraged to mock and shame me constantly, while being too recreant to actually go through with it and _finally_ throw me out of the City in a fair fight. I would have been victorious with my hands bound, by the way, what you surely knew, or else your boys would have made me battle them.”

Counting the reasons on his fingers, Loki appeared to think it over for a second, snapping his head up in mock epiphany and raising a third finger.

“Let us not forget how you gossip about my heritage and call me monster behind my back – or, if brave enough, to my face, what has happened disappointingly rare – and by default, my lovely daughter, too, who is not even aware which dimwits live here.”

More outrageous gasps and outcries followed. Thor narrowed his eyes first at him – still trying to get him back in line, obviously – and then to the crowd, grim and resolute in his opinion that it was absolutely wrong of them to do something like that to his brother. At least since their more recent shared time together.

“Why in all the Nine Worlds should I help you for free? There is nothing to tilt my favours to you, and as I seem to constantly risk my life when trying to support Asgard, having had the third near-death experience just a few days ago, recompense is by no means overcharged.”

There was silence for about a second, in which Loki looked around with merry eyes, a smile so friendly it screamed fake on his face.

“Oh, could it be? Are you, in fact, afraid of Algrim and his underlings?”

He snorted as more indignation wavered through to him. Despite the overwhelming detest on the outside, Loki caught the underlying despair that told him exactly what he wanted to hear.

“Should I end up being your only help? Right, I seem to remember it was me the last time as well who gave away the Elves' tactical disadvantage. If not for me, Asgard would not exist any longer.”

“Then what do you want from us, Liesmith? Gold, treasures? A position in the high Court so you can be heard? Do you want us to bow before you?”, another member asked, aversion clear in his voice and stance. The sorcerer chuckled, brimming with mirth because hell, this was so much better than he could have anticipated. And Norns, it looked like Tony was enjoying this as much as he was, if his wide smirk was any indication.

“I am above petty revenge, Refr, seeing you squirm right now is highly satisfactory on its own. I do not need any form of material recompense from any of you, nor do I aim for anything higher than my current titles already have gotten me. No, what I want from you is so much simpler and in the same instant so much more complicated, I presume, especially for you.”, he snarled, and it was balm for his soul to watch Asgard fall silent, waiting for him to make his demand, to state his wish, and to either grant to Loki whatever he wanted – or probably sign their demise.

It was rather heart-warming.

“Brother, don't do this.”, Thor muttered, brows still drawn together, lips pressed together. “They will never relent, whatever you ask for.”

“Then I at least have made an effort, have I not? It is more than these miscreants deserve.”

“State your demands, Prince Loki.”

Well, Odin did receive a curt bow for acknowledging his words. If he was willing to listen, the whole of Asgard would do so, as well. Calling him with his title just cemented the Allfather's re-claiming him.

“What I want for my help, for my insight to be shared with you, be it of the Elves or of the powers they have obtained, is a matter of manners. All Aesir will refrain from harbouring any ill intend towards either my child or my husband – be it a sideways glance, a wrong word or a misguided touch, I will tolerate neither. While we visit your Realm – and we will, rest assured – I will be watching the whole of you more closely than even Heimdall is capable of. It is all the same to me if you talk about me behind my back, like you have done since I remember, and I am way beyond caring about your opinion of me, but should I catch the faintest whisper of the mockery and affronting you have shown me directed onto them, I will burn down every street, every house, every building, and I will gloat over your misery for making my daughter spill tears. However, as long as Asgard cares for _Thor's niece_ the way they care for her Uncle, I will see your Realm safe from any harm to the best of my abilities.”

As Loki took in the startled faces all around him, he added a soft “I use the chance and extend that to any children my husband and I may sire together – there could be more following. I'm no seer.”

Thor's head whipped around to face his brother, eyes wide.

“Are you with child again?”, he asked, and his voice was so excited and packed with anticipation that the Trickster snorted good-naturedly and shook his head.

“May I have the chance to raise her first before you demand for another? She's a handful for herself, without the added stress of a second one so soon.”

The blond's face fell – just a bit, at least. A quick glance to Tony had him chuckle as he rolled his eyes and mouthed a 'Mama Bear' towards the god, giving an 'Of course' back.

“Hold the rumours true, then? What nature were you born to, Liesmith?”, an elderly woman asked, and Loki smiled sweetly at her, having waited for an invitation like that.

“Oh, well – that is a rather interesting question, Dagrún. You see, I really could be _anything_.”

And he did his best to change his appearance as dramatically as possible, looking like a Fire Giant in mere seconds.

“I have heard I stem from Muspellheim, hence my affinity to Fire – or the crass opposite, Asgard's arch enemies, the Jotun.”, he whispered, like sharing a secret, and let the red of his skin bleed away to the ice cold skin he truly carried, earning sharp gasps and outcries from the people around, a groan from Tony and a slight wince from Thor.

“Or perhaps I am one of the Elves who came crashing here mere days ago – set on rescuing me.”

Another shifting, another skin, another bout of indignant cries.

“The truth is,”, he drawled, while he resumed the Aesir look, “you will never know. I am a shape-shifter, I literally am able to take on any form I like, or need. I could very well be just as Aesir as you are. The best part? You will have to live with it, regardless whether I am Fire or Frost Giant, Elf, or Aesir. So, I am curious – are you able to treat a little girl for what she is? A child, like the ones you have brought into the World? However different she may prove to be, and she will be, courtesy of her upbringing between two Realms? Is Asgard evolved enough to look past the prejudices and cultural bias centering _me_ , in favour to save your hides now?”

And, with a smirk, he added “Or is the price you will have to pay the _beast_ too high?”

“Allright, Princess, I think you had your fun.”, Tony called, eliciting a laugh from Loki. “Just help the poor buggers and milk it afterwards, you've scared them enough. They've peed their pants already.”

“Must you always spoil it? I had _so_ much fun.”

But perhaps his husband was right.

Of course he would help Asgard against Algrim and the Aether – as before, not only the Realm Eternal was at stake. The other Realms would follow, for sure, and Loki would do anything to protect his home, so his daughter could live without fear.

This... audience, he'd call it, had solely helped him installing himself back into the royal family. He had spoken out what he wanted the Aesir to hear. He had made sure that they knew what to await when a single person stepped out of line with his child.

Odin had made a statement out of this, too. Loki was to be treated as Thor was, from all of them. He was their Prince, and as such had to be met with the proper respect.

He would see how well that was received once the Aesir were interacting without Thor or Odin in the vicinity.

With a deep sigh, the Allfather rose from his throne again, having sat down somewhen earlier.

“It troubles me that you still have to ask such a thing from the Realm you've been raised on.”

He cast a pointed look into the ranks of Court and Council, much to Loki's amusement.

“Perhaps I have not been clear enough on that matter. As I have asked of you so often in the last years and decades – there has to be peace amongst the Realms. We cannot achieve that if we are driven by hatred and fear. We must learn to understand each other.”

Murmurs were heard through the ranks. Thor and Loki looked at each other.

“You have a soft spot for angering and scaring people, have you not?”, the older one said, exasperated, but amused, too.

“It is balm for my soul, really. Installing these emotions is so much fun. I thrive on them.”

“You are truly evil, brother.”

“Let's stick with wicked and nasty. True Evil is not found as easily.”

A playful shove had Loki grin widely. Odin cleared his throat, raising an eyebrow a them.

“The whole of Asgard knows that you have vast knowledge of our enemies. More so than any other being. We rely on you, Loki. We will be in your debt should you offer your aid. Rest assured, though, that you and your family will be welcomed in Asgard whatever you decide. Never shall you or they feel out of place.”

The _not any more_ was not spoken aloud, but Loki heard it nonetheless. He nodded solemnly, once, bowing his head to the king of Asgard. Oh, he would still watch closely what happened once they were visiting, but no one would dare lay a finger on either Tony or Ásdís.

And perhaps in time, Asgard would learn that they were just people, too.

“Then I pledge to offer you my aid in whatever matter regarding the newest threat you need me for, as long as I am promised to stay out of any immediate danger. I've had enough close encounters with Death to last several Aesir lifetimes.”

Thor smiled brightly. Frigga sent him a look that promised a serious talk later, and the Allfather gave a serene bow of the head back.

“I am thankful for your mature approach. You are wise beyond your years, my son.”

Loki sighed, but could not help the soft touch his features morphed to as he let his eyes wander to Tony and the little child, awake again and squirming to be let down, and thinking of all the things he would do to see them safe for eternity.

“I have more to protect than my pride or honour. I am way beyond the point to care what others think of me, as she is the most important and significant notion in my mind. If my help ensures her well-being, I'll provide everything I can.”

Then he schooled his face again with hardness and coldness, eyes steel as he looked around.

“But harm my daughter in any way, and I assure you, the little temper tantrum that destroyed part of the East Wing two weeks ago will seem like child's play.”

Yes, now he was ready to leave again. His friends looked ready to burst from laughing, seeing how he had gotten all of Asgard to do his bidding, hopefully, and with such nonchalance, too.

“Is there anything else? If not, I would rather begin sharing my information now than later. We have much to discuss.”

 

 

Frigga had tried to lecture him, what failed spectacularly as Loki was not interested a single bit in any scolding. A well placed “Mother, I do not see your problem in the least. I used my authority to ensure the well-being of my child, my first priority – surely you understand that. You have done so enough times with our own son, have you not? Perhaps I would not have needed to display such animosity if someone had offered me the same protection.” shut her up very fast, and even though the hurt in her eyes had pained him, too, because she really had done much more than either Odin or Thor to ensure he was treated well, he was still very sore about her underhanded way to ensure his love after Odin cast him out. Showing his own distress over the matter silenced her.

Loki knew he had done wrong. Time for everyone else to admit their own faults.

Oh, and both his parents had him brought in this morning with Thor because they feared he would take the chance and vanish back home if he was given a fair warning about the audience. Still trying to play him. Perhaps they were just too old to learn.

As if he would let the chance to ridicule the Court or Council slip his grasp.

Of course Loki would not stay any longer in Asgard as he would have need to – as soon as he had relayed all he knew he would pack up his daughter and husband and skedaddle back to New York.

Over the course of the next three days, Loki had the scribes write down any snippet of information he could recall, from the Dark Elve's eating habits to their style of fight. He discussed what he knew with the Court and the Council, and it was the sweetest and purest form of gratification that they not once disrupted him or even dared to look like they wanted to interrupt him.

The Dorky Four had asked to be taught how the enemy fought. Actually, it had been Volstagg, but once Loki had stepped out of the Palace and onto the training grounds, he had the attention of the whole lot.

Thor had watched from the sidelines, arriving just in time to see how his little brother disarmed Fandral with a quick blow from the side and then trying to teach them how to defend oneself from such an assault.

And while Loki would have given much for being needed so much before, he now just wanted to leave them all be and return to his husband and child.

Instead, he had rushed through his “lessons” as fast as he could without accidentally botching the fighting style and the way to neutralise the onset.

At last, he had forged another vessel, identical to the first one he had wrought besides Tony, Uru-gold-alloy and obsidian, and placed both before the Allfather.

“These are the most likely to hold the Aether should we succeed in expelling it from Algrim. I will place a seed of my seiðr inside, as well as a drop of my blood, to lure it into the container once it searches a new host. It really seemed to like my energy. One will stay here with you, in case they choose to attack. One will be taken to Midgard, so that we will have the same chance should they come to us.”

“So be it.”

Almost a whole month after the Avengers had first stepped into the Bifröst, they were finally leaving again.

What had started as an invitation to a feast had ended with upcoming war.

Walking into the golden dome, set on going home at last had never tasted sweeter for Loki.

“My Princes.”, Heimdall greeted them with a gentle nod of his head, what had the sorcerer raise an eyebrow in some sort of weary observation.

Could it really be and his fight with death and the following aid he had offered the Realm had changed something? Oh Norns. It was too similar to how Thor had gotten back his powers, wasn't it? How distasteful.

He sighed and a lopsided grin forced itself on his lips. All the things he had craved before now were his – and he did not care any more for neither of them.

“We are ready to leave for Midgard, Heimdall. Please open the Gate.”, Thor said with a smile.

“Wait.”, Loki interrupted, and, ignoring the irritated gazes, took two steps to the All-Seeing, regarding him with a sinister look.

“Asgard is ready to fight whenever the Elves will come back – if you are able to see them in time.”, he said, and it was without a trace of taunt or mockery.

“It is with great regret that I admit I cannot.”

Nodding once, the Trickster accepted this.

“I will try to find a way to reverse the spell I use to shield myself from your eyes, then. I have promised to help with whatever I can come up with, and I will. As long as I have not succeeded in robbing them of their concealment, I will show you where the hidden paths of Yggdrasil lie, so they may not enter through them.”

It was easy to see the surprise and stunning both Heimdall and Thor went through in the following silence, and Loki chuckled a bit at that.

“You would give up the secret of your ways for the safety of Asgard?”, the Gatekeeper asked slowly and softly, earning a contemptible snort.

“I gave my word. What use would I have of them when there is no one to come back to?”

As he made his way over to the opening that would be their way back home, amber eyes never left him. Metal ground on metal as the sword was lifted and sheathed again to open the gate, and Tony gave him a grin that had him curl up his own lips in a weary smirk.

“Then you have my gratitude, and my trust.”, Heimdall added, and with a last glance back before the Bifröst would encompass them, Loki watched the man who had placed mistrust before a sworn oath, who had probably loathed him because of his unknown heritage, who would perhaps continue to do so, and whose eyes the sorcerer always had tried to escape.

“I will do neither for you, as I do not need and want either gratitude or trust from you, Gatekeeper. I care not for any form of amity from any Aesir, as Ásdís is the force who drives me to do what I do. Never forget that.”

And finally, the path between the Worlds opened and swallowed them, guiding them safely back to Midgard, to Earth, to the Tower.

“Welcome back home, Sirs. Shall I notify Miss Potts?”, Jarvis asked, and never before in his life had Loki felt that the word 'home' held more truth as right now.

This was where he belonged. Tony kissed his temple as the Avengers scurried to their own floors with quick goodbyes, and a genuine smile lit up the god's face as all the tension Asgard had forced upon him eased out of his body and only left bliss.

After a millennium of searching, he finally had found his Home.

Tomorrow could come – he was ready for the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...yes, they are still doing what they have always done. They're too used to act like that to change overnight. Well, don't make it too hard on Thor, he's still learning to defy his daddy even in front of the court. He'll get there, I promise.  
>  That said...
> 
> You are all amazing!! Thank you so much for staying with me in this adventure and giving me such overwhelmingly positive feedback. I am so flattered and so, so grateful, you can't even begin to imagine it. :'D  
> I'll begin posting #3 somewhen next week (Probably around Friday or so), to give you time to get settled. We'll make a leap in time, so we'll have a lot more Ásdís-interaction and fluffy little domesticity-scenes happening.  
> aaaaaand a bit smut, right in the beginning. Oh Gods, why am I doing this.  
> Ah, right - because you have deserved it, and I love you. There will be not so much action, but very much story. Very, very much.  
> I hope it's not going to be old someday... oh, I just keep you on your toes. I'm evil, and I am so doing something extreme somewhere in #3 (nameless as of yet. You'll see. Keep your eyes open for something from me.)  
> Have a very, very nice sunday, you all, we will read us next week! :D

**Author's Note:**

> Yay! It's time to welcome back the cutie-pies and be ready for mischief, chaos, fluff and feelings! Lots of them, I made myself cry so hard I was too embarrassed to go shopping with puffy and red eyes. Yes, well, laaaater for you. Much later.
> 
> So, this will be updated every Thorsday (just love it XD) and Sunday/Monday, basically two times a week, three to four days apart.  
> It's not finished yet, but I'm on the grande finale right now, I've already covered 44k words, so there will be roughly fifteen chapters with this one. I'll have to see how much the chapters will vary in length this time, I'm not good in thinking ahead, I just write what my fingers want. Be prepared.  
> Yes, well - let's get the party started!


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